by admin | Nov 19, 2019 | Health Awareness
Sitting has recently been dubbed “the new smoking,” as medical experts have linked it to heart disease, diabetes, and even certain forms of cancer. Unfortunately, many of us spend hours sitting at desks during the workday, then log more time at home in front of our phones, tablets, or the TV. So, what are the dangers of sitting & how can we avoid them?
3 Risks of Sitting All Day
Decreased Metabolism
Inactivity causes the metabolism to slow, which eventually translates to weight gain. Sitting burns just 139 calories per hour, while standing and walking burns many more – 186 and 324, respectively. Thus, the less you move each day, the fewer calories you’ll burn. Weight gain can ultimately lead to obesity, which is linked to serious health concerns including heart disease and stroke, diabetes, high blood pressure, and cancer.
Insulin Resistance
Long periods of sitting have been associated with reduced insulin sensitivity. Insulin sensitivity refers to the body’s reaction to the effects of insulin. High insulin sensitivity allows your body to use glucose effectively and keep blood sugar levels in control. When insulin sensitivity dips too low, it leads to insulin resistance, in which the cells cannot absorb glucose properly. As a result, blood sugar levels increase, and left unaddressed, the condition leads to type 2 diabetes.
Elevated Disease Risk
In addition to an increased risk for type 2 diabetes, sedentary lifestyles are also associated with elevated odds of other serious diseases. In particular, research from the National Cancer Institute shows people who sat and watched TV for at least 7 hours a day have a risk of death from any cause that’s 61% higher than their peers who watched less than an hour. For cardiovascular mortality, the risk increased 85%, while the increased risk for cancer was 22%. Of course, many individuals spend at least seven hours seated without watching TV, between time spent at their desks, commuting, dining, and relaxing.
What Can You Do to Minimize Your Risks?
While you may not be able to change the nature of your work or commute, there are plenty of ways to minimize the effects of sitting. For one, regular exercise can significantly improve health and reduce mortality risk. One study shows that getting 150 to 299 minutes of exercise each week can help offset the risk of deadly conditions associated with sitting.
In addition, it’s also important to take periodic breaks from sitting throughout the day. Set a timer for every hour to stand up, stretch, and walk around the office. Take trips to talk to your co-workers instead of emailing them when possible. Find small ways to inject more movement into your day, whether it’s taking the stairs or parking in a remote space in your lot. All of these little actions can add up to a big positive impact on your health.
by admin | Nov 11, 2019 | Health Awareness
If you’ve been looking for ways to reduce your calorie intake and lose weight, you may have come across the term “intermittent fasting,” or IF. While it may seem like just another fad diet, many experts agree that this eating pattern may actually hold up to its claims. Not only is IF safe and effective, but it could also play an important role in diabetes prevention. The catch is that it’s all in how you approach IF – discover some important tips below.
A Beginner’s Guide to Intermittent Fasting
What Is Intermittent Fasting?
Intermittent fasting isn’t an entirely new concept, but it was only recently popularized after a number of documentaries and books hailing the practice emerged from 2012 to 2016. The concept is simple: IF encourages eating only during a limited window of time, then fasting during the “off” hours.
In between meals, our body breaks down food and uses it as energy. When we don’t use all of this energy, however, it enters the cells, where it gets stored as fat. Yet, for sugar to enter the cells, insulin must be present. When we give our bodies a break from eating, insulin levels drop, and fat cells release built-up sugar to be used as energy. As a result, fasting encourages insulin levels to go down, thereby promoting weight loss.
What’s the Best Way to Approach It?
As with many well-known diets, there are different approaches to IF. Some advocates for the diet recommend fasting every other day, but many individuals find this approach too restrictive. Luckily, there are other, more sustainable approaches to try.
Most IF plans fall into an eight- or 12-hour window. In the first, you’d be able to eat within an eight-hour time frame, then fast for the other 16 hours of the day. In the second, you’d have 12 hours to eat and 12 to fast. Research suggests the more restrictive window may have a greater payoff: according to a 2018 study conducted by the University of Alabama, men with prediabetes who practiced “early time-restricted feeding” by having all of their meals between 7 am and 3 pm had drastically lower insulin levels than their peers who followed the 12-hour method, eating between 7 am and 7 pm. Their appetites had also reduced significantly.
Of course, IF is unlikely to yield any noticeable benefits if you fill your eight- or 12-hour eating period with high-calorie, nutritionally-poor food choices. Yet, if you’re following a sensible diet prioritizing vegetables and fruits, whole grains, healthy fats, and lean protein, you may notice some improvement by restricting your “eating window.”
As with any diet, IF is also only as effective as your ability to stick with it. If you’re interested in trying it, you might start with a manageable 12-hour window, such as 10 am to 6 pm. Or, simply adopt some of the principles from intermittent fasting if fasting seems too restrictive to you: avoid snacking between meals by taking in enough nutrient-dense calories during your meals and try not to eat after dinner. And, as with any diet, be sure to get the okay from your physician before starting IF.
Contact us today if you would like to learn more about IF!
by admin | Nov 4, 2019 | Health Awareness
Bilirubin, a pigment found in bile, is best known for lending itself to the yellow hue seen in the skin of people with jaundice. Yet, recent research shows that this pigment could play a surprising role in protecting brain cells against the damage caused by oxidative stress. Here we will talk about the link between bile pigment & brain cell protection.
Recently, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers reported that, in mice studies, the compound was found in high doses in the brain. Bilirubin is known to be found in the liver and the blood and is often used as a measure to look for disease. While it has previously been unknown whether the compound has an effect on healthy people, researchers were surprised to discover bilirubin in “exceptional levels” within mouse brains. In fact, its concentration was five to 10 times higher than it is in their livers.
Researchers note that while bilirubin was originally deemed a waste product, the body uses a significant amount of metabolic energy to produce the compound. It, therefore, seemed strange for it to have no function. Thus, the researchers set out to discover why there would be so much bilirubin present in the brain. Because the brain is both metabolically active yet vulnerable to oxidative damage, they thought that the compound could serve as an important antioxidant.
To test their theory, they genetically engineered mouse neurons to not produce bilirubin. They then exposed the neurons to different sources of oxidative stress. Compared to normal mouse neurons, these cells were much more vulnerable to stressors, and in particular, were damaged by a chemical cell messenger called superoxide. While superoxide is important for learning and memory, it can lead to oxidative stress and brain damage in abnormally high levels. Uncontrolled superoxide levels could be caused by excessive neuron activity. According to the researchers, the study findings suggest that bilirubin may be integral to controlling superoxide levels within the brain.
Although research is still in its infancy, the team believes their discovery could help to uncover new treatment options for neurodegenerative diseases. In specific, Parkinson’s and Huntington’s diseases are characterized by high levels of oxidative stress and superoxide, so this finding could be particularly useful for researching new therapies for these conditions.
by admin | Oct 29, 2019 | COPD, Health Awareness
A decline in lung function can be both age-related and result from a disease, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Although there are medications available to help patients manage the symptoms of COPD, the disease has no cure. Thus, for both age-related and COPD-related decline in lung function, patients are limited in terms of their treatment options.
Recently, researchers discovered a potential therapy in flavonoids for improving lung function. This group of phytonutrients is found in nearly all vegetables and fruits and is known to have powerful antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties. While there have been plenty of previous research showcasing flavonoids’ abilities in medical applications, studies on their effect on lung function have been limited.
In the most recent research, investigators focused on anthocyanins, a type of flavonoid which has been found in lung tissue shortly after being ingested. Based on findings, it appears that the plant chemicals may play an important role in minimizing mucus and inflammatory secretions. Study participants who consumed the most anthocyanins experienced improvements in a number of key lung function indicators over their peers, including a slower rate of decline in FEV1, which measures how much air a person can exhale in a second. They also experienced a slower rate of decline in FVC, the amount of air exhaled after taking a deep breath. Benefits were realized across people who had smoked as well as those who had not.
Good Sources of Anthocyanins
While the researchers note that quitting is the best choice smokers can make to improve their lung function, a diet rich in anthocyanins could be an effective way to boost lung function in former smokers and people who have never smoked. Anthocyanins are found naturally in red onions, berries, grapes, tomatoes, acai, kidney beans, and tart cherries.
by admin | Oct 21, 2019 | Health Awareness, Parkinson's Disease
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a progressive nervous system condition which is diagnosed in more than 50,000 Americans each year. The disease affects movement and occurs when nerve cells in the brain don’t produce enough of the brain chemical dopamine.
Patients with Parkinson’s disease experience the death of neurons involved with the movement, which may lead to symptoms such as tremors, mobility challenges, slow movement, muscle rigidity, and speech changes. Cell death may be partially caused by a mutation for the protein α-synuclein (αS). While the mutated protein tends to cluster in neurons, ultimately causing their death, the normal protein resists clumping.
Researchers are now investigating whether estrogen could help to protect these movement neurons against clumping in people with PD.
Parkinson’s disease is most commonly seen in men and postmenopausal women, both of whom have low estrogen levels. While researchers still aren’t sure precisely how estrogen may act as a protective agent to safeguard movement neurons, studies have shown that brain-selective estrogen improved PD symptoms in mice. In the studies, the mice treated with estrogen therapy showed a higher rate of surviving neurons, as well as benefits in motor performance. It’s therefore suspected that estrogen treatment could be an effective therapy for delaying and reducing symptoms.
The exact causes of Parkinson’s disease are still being researched. While the condition can be genetic, most cases do not appear to run in families. As with many conditions, experts believe that environmental factors, including exposure to chemicals, could contribute to the disease. While there is still further research to be done both on the disease in general and the potential benefits of estrogen therapy, these most recent findings suggest that estrogen could hold promise as an emerging treatment for men and menopausal women with Parkinson’s disease.
by admin | Oct 15, 2019 | Health Awareness, Parkinson's Disease
For some time now, gut health has been suspected to play a key role in chronic conditions. We now know that there is significant interaction between the body’s immune system and bacteria in the intestinal tract, and researchers have become increasingly interested in how the immune system ties into conditions such as Parkinson’s disease (PD). But how do these factors all connect?
The Potential Role of Gut Infections in Parkinson’s Disease
Emerging research suggests Parkinson’s disease could have an autoimmune component. Autoimmune conditions occur when the body’s immune system confuses healthy cells for pathogens and sets out to destroy them. A small percentage of PD cases are caused by mutations in genes that code for the proteins PINK1 and Parkin, which help clear out damaged mitochondria. Individuals with these mutations are more likely to develop PD before the age of 50.
Yet, when scientists removed PINK1 and Parkin from mice in a recent study, thereby giving them the same mutations linked to Parkinson’s disease in humans, they did not develop the disease. The research team theorized that factors other than these genetic mutations alone would likely be required for PD to develop. In particular, they believed exposure to specific germs could trigger Parkinson’s disease in individuals with this mutation.
To test this theory, the mice were exposed to E. coli. As the researchers suspected, they experienced PD-like symptoms later in life, along with a loss of dopaminergic neurons in the brain. This suggests that in individuals with certain genetic mutations, gut infections can trigger an immune system response which targets healthy cells.
What the Findings Mean
This research has also led scientists to the conclusion that in people without functioning PINK1 and Parkin, intestinal infections can trigger PD, thereby demonstrating a clear gut-brain connection in the disease. While this doesn’t suggest that all PD cases are autoimmune, it does pose the theory that there could be an immune system element in some cases. Although the mystery surrounding Parkinson’s disease still remains, this discovery points to an interplay between the gut, genetics, and brain, which may ultimately pave the way for further developments in the realm of treatment.
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