New "Steps" Target

A February 2024 study by New York University at Buffalo said,

• “In ambulatory older women, higher amounts of usual daily light and moderate intensity activities were associated with lower risk of developing heart failure with preserved ejection fraction independent of demographic and clinical factors associated with heart failure risk,”

• “Accumulating 3,000 steps per day might be a reasonable target that would be consistent with the amount of daily activity performed by women in this study.”

• “This is a major, unique finding of our study because there is very little published data on physical activity and HFpEF, so we are providing new information upon which other studies can build,”

• “More importantly, [in] the most common form of heart failure seen in older women and among racial and ethnic minority groups, and at present there are few established treatment options, which makes primary prevention all the more relevant…. The potential for light intensity activities of daily life to contribute to the prevention of [this type of heart failure] in older women is an exciting and promising result for future studies to evaluate in other groups, including older men,”

• “…conveying how much activity is always a challenge to incorporate as part of clinical and public health recommendations,”

• “Steps per day is easily understood and can be measured by a variety of consumer-level wearable devices to help people monitor their physical activity levels.”

• “It appeared that intensity of stepping did not influence the lower risk of heart failure as results were comparable for light intensity steps and for more vigorous steps,”

• “Our results showing heart failure prevention in older women might be enhanced through walking around 3,000 steps or so per day at usual pace is very relevant given the current emphasis at the federal level on identifying an amount of daily physical activity that can be referenced against steps per day for cardiovascular health and resilience to incorporate in future public health guidelines.”

Exercise combinations and health

A May 2021 study by Columbia University and an international team of researchers said,

• "For decades, we've been telling people that the way to stay healthy is to get at least 30 minutes of exercise five days a week," 

• "But even if you're one of the few adults who can stick to this advice, 30 minutes represents just 2% of your entire day,”

• "Is it really possible that our activity habits for just 2% of the day is all that matters when it comes to health?"

• "What we don't know is the best combination, or cocktail, of ingredients needed to prolong life,"

The benefits depend on how you spend the rest of the day.

• "In other words, it is not as simple as checking off that 'exercise' box on your to-do list,”

• "A healthy movement profile requires more than 30 minutes of daily exercise. Moving around and not remaining sedentary all day also matters."

• "Getting 30 minutes of physical activity per day, or 150 minutes per week, is what's currently recommended, but you still have the potential to undo all that good work if you sit too long," 

• "Perhaps you're a parent with young kids and you simply can't get to the gym to exercise,”

• "But you can still have a healthy movement profile as long as you move around a lot throughout the day as you tend to your everyday activities."

• "While there will always be sitting in our lives, as with most things in life, it's about sitting in moderation. The key is to find the right balance of sedentary time and physical activity."

• “A cocktail formula of 3 to 1 is best.”

• “Three minutes of moderate-to-vigorous activity or 12 minutes of light activity per hour of sitting was optimal for improving health and reducing the risk of early death.”

• "Our new formula gets at the right balance between moderate-to-vigorous exercise and sitting to help people lead a longer, healthier life," 

• "The leftover hours should be spent moving around as much as possible and getting a good night's sleep."

There are many options and combinations. For example:

• “55 minutes of exercise, 4 hours of light physical activity, and 11 hours of sitting”
  

• “13 minutes of exercise, 5.5 hours of light physical activity, and 10.3 hours of sitting”
  

• “3 minutes of exercise, 6 hours of light physical activity, and 9.7 hours of sitting”

The study continued

• "This is good news for people who may not have the time, ability, or desire to engage in formal exercise,”

• "They can get health benefits from a lot of light physical activity and just a little moderate-to-vigorous activity."

• "Our study shows that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to physical activity, and we get to choose which ones we like best,”

• "It may be more important to mix a movement cocktail that includes a healthy dose of exercise and light activity to take the place of sitting."

Delicious

“The longer I work in nutrition, the more convinced I become that for the healthy person all foods should be delicious.”

Adelle Davis

Diabetes type 2: New Treatment pathway

A June 2021 study from University of Arizona College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and BIO5 Institute, and  Washington University in St. Louis, the University of Pennsylvania and Northwestern University,

• "All current therapeutics for Type 2 diabetes primarily aim to decrease blood glucose. So, they are treating a symptom, much like treating the flu by decreasing the fever,”

• "Obesity is known to be a cause of Type 2 diabetes and, for a long time, we have known that the amount of fat in the liver increases with obesity,”

• "As fat increases in the liver, the incidence of diabetes increases."

• "We found that fat in the liver increased the release of the inhibitory neurotransmitter Gamma-aminobutyric acid, or GABA," 

• "We then identified the pathway by which GABA synthesis was occurring and the key enzyme that is responsible for liver GABA production - GABA transaminase."

• "When the liver produces GABA, it decreases activity of those nerves that run from the liver to the brain. Thus, fatty liver, by producing GABA, is decreasing firing activity to the brain," 

• "That decrease in firing is sensed by the central nervous system, which changes outgoing signals that affect glucose homeostasis."

• "Inhibition of excess liver GABA production restored insulin sensitivity within days," 

• "Longer term inhibition of GABA-transaminase resulted in decreased food intake and weight loss."

Change

“Change involves carrying out an activity against the habit of life.”

F.M. Alexander

Epilepsy: Ketogenic Diet

A July 2021 study by UCL said: 

• "The ketogenic diet has been used for 100 years to treat epilepsy, helping reduce seizures in both children and adults.”

• "It has long been thought the diet was effective due to its production of ketones, however we now believe the increase in levels of the fatty acid, decanoic acid, also produced by the diet, may provide the powerful antiseizure effects.”

• "In this study we evaluated a newly developed medium chain triglyceride (type of dietary fat) supplement, designed to increase levels of decanoic acid, while also reducing the adverse side effects, and to be more palatable."

• "Our study provides early evidence of the tolerability and effectiveness of a new dietary supplement in severe drug-resistant epilepsies in adults and children and provides a further treatment option in these devastating conditions.”

• "It also offers an alternative, more liberal, diet for those who cannot tolerate or do not have access to ketogenic diets."

• "While this study was not designed to include enough patients to fully assess the supplement's effects on seizures, it is exciting to report that there was a statistically significant reduction in the number of seizures in the group overall after three months of treatment.

• "Furthermore, high ketone levels were not observed in over 90% of the participants. This indicates that the effect of the diet was independent from ketosis; this is important because high ketone levels in the ketogenic diets contribute to both short- and longer-term side effects."

• Dr Natasha Schoeler, Research Dietitian at UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, commented: "This novel dietary approach for epilepsy management involves following the principles of a healthy balanced diet alongside use of K.Vita, allowing greater dietary freedom compared to ketogenic diets. Our approach also requires much less input from a specialist dietician than is required by traditional ketogenic diets, and so may allow more widespread access to people with drug-resistant epilepsy.”

Heart Health, Obesity: Cut 200 calories and exercise

An August 2021 study by Sticht Center for Healthy Aging and Alzheimer’s Prevention at Wake Forest School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina found that 

• "Cutting 200 (not 250) calories daily and exercising may improve heart health in obese older adults" 

• “This is the first study to assess the effects of aerobic exercise training with and without reducing calories on aortic stiffness, which was measured via cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) to obtain detailed images of the aorta,” 

• “We sought to determine whether adding caloric restriction for weight loss would lead to greater improvements in vascular health compared to aerobic exercise alone in older adults with obesity.”

• “Our findings indicate that lifestyle changes designed to increase aerobic activity and moderately decrease daily calorie intake may help to reduce aortic stiffness and improve overall vascular health,”

• “However, we were surprised to find that the group that reduced their calorie intake the most did not have any improvements in aortic stiffness, even though they had similar decreases in body weight and blood pressure as the participants with moderate calorie restriction.”

• “These results suggest that combining exercise with modest calorie restriction — as opposed to more intensive calorie restriction or no-calorie restriction — likely maximizes the benefits on vascular health, while also optimizing weight loss and improvements in body composition and body fat distribution. The finding that higher-intensity calorie restriction may not be necessary or advised has important implications for weight loss recommendations to improve cardiovascular disease risk in older adults with obesity.”

Getting help

“True humility, we believe, consists of two things. The first is knowing our limitations. And the second is getting the help we need.”

Robert L.Moore

Growing wings

“It’s all right if you grow your wings on the way down.”

Robert Bly

A puzzling thing

“It is a puzzling thing. The truth knocks on the door and you say, ‘Go away, I’m looking for the truth.’ and it goes away. Puzzling.”

Robert M. Pirsig

the many serpentine branches of the vagus nerve

“Along with multitudes of other people, I have experienced various chanting and ancient “sounding” practices that facilitate healing and help open the “doors of perception”. Singing and chanting are used in religous and spiritual ceremonies among every culture for “lightening the load” of earthly existence."

“When you open up to chant or sing in deep, resonant lower belly tones, you also open up your chest (heart and lungs), mouth and throat, pleasurably stimulating the many serpentine branches of the vagus nerve.”

Peter A. Levine

What we talk about

“No matter what we talk about, we are talking about ourselves.”

Hugh Prather

Internet Use, Older People, Lockdown

An April 2021 study by the University of Surrey found 

"As social restrictions continue during the Covid-19 pandemic, older people are at greater risk of loneliness and mental health issues. We found that older adults who used the internet more frequently under lockdown, particularly to communicate with others, had lower depression scores and an enhanced quality of life. As the Covid-19 situation evolves, more frequent internet use could benefit the mental health of older people by reducing loneliness and risk of depression, particularly if further lockdowns are imposed in the future."

Two Rules

"There are two unvarying rules that apply to all diets for all diseases and all abnormalities.

The first is to improve nutrition the minute the initial symptom is noticed; an enormous amount of suffering could be prevented were this simple rule followed.

The second is to see that each of the 40 body requirements is adequately supplied, erring on the side of taking too much rather than too little of the nutrients that meet the needs of stress.”

Adelle Davis

Note to Future Self

Vegetable Oils

Seed Oils

Wheat

Sugar

10,000 steps

2 litres of water

Wellbeing

An April 2021 study by SAHMRI Wellbeing and Resilience Centre and Flinders University set themselves the task of answering the question, 'What's the best way to build personal wellbeing?'.

They said,

"During stressful and uncertain periods in our lives, pro-actively working on our mental health is crucial to help mitigate the risk of mental and physical illness,"

"Our research suggests there are numerous psychological approaches people should experiment with to determine what works for them."

"Just trying something once or twice isn't enough to have a measurable impact. Regardless of what method people are trying out, they need to stick at it for weeks and months at a time for it to have a real effect,"

"Implementing such interventions can be done safely for individuals on their own or in a group format, either in person or online,"

"It is therefore potentially a cost-effective addition to current referral pathways and treatment methods."

"We need to take everyone's wellbeing seriously and ensure we're taking the necessary steps to improve mental and physical health so we can prevent future complications for ourselves and keep healthcare costs down," 

Exercise for long-term health

An April 2021 study by UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals said,

"Results from randomized controlled trials and observational studies have shown that exercise lowers blood pressure, suggesting that it may be important to focus on exercise as a way to lower blood pressure in all adults as they approach middle age," 

"Teenagers and those in their early twenties may be physically active but these patterns change with age. Our study suggests that maintaining physical activity during young adulthood - at higher levels than previously recommended - may be particularly important."

"Nearly half of our participants in young adulthood had suboptimal levels of physical activity, which was significantly associated with the onset of hypertension, indicating that we need to raise the minimum standard for physical activity,”

"This might be especially the case after high school when opportunities for physical activity diminish as young adults transition to college, the workforce and parenthood, and leisure time is eroded."

Physical Activity At Work Enough?

An April 2021 study by the National Research Centre for the Working Environment, Copenhagen, Denmark.

"We adjusted for multiple factors in our analysis, indicating that the relationships were not explained by lifestyle, health conditions or socioeconomic status,”

"Many people with manual jobs believe they get fit and healthy by their physical activity at work and therefore can relax when they get home. Unfortunately, our results suggest that this is not the case. And while these workers could benefit from leisure physical activity, after walking 10,000 steps while cleaning or standing seven hours in a production line, people 

"A brisk 30-minute walk will benefit your health by raising your heart rate and improving your cardiorespiratory fitness, while work activity often does not sufficiently increase heart rate to improve fitness. In addition, work involving lifting for several hours a day increases blood pressure for many hours, which is linked with heart disease risk, while short bursts of intense physical activity during leisure raises blood pressure only briefly."

"We are trying to vary the tasks, give recovery time, or raise heart rate so there is a fitness and health benefit," 

Organic meat and multidrug-resistant bacteria

A May 2021 study by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health said,

"The presence of pathogenic bacteria is worrisome in and of itself, considering the possible increased risk of contracting foodborne illness," 

"If infections turn out to be multidrug resistant, they can be more deadly and more costly to treat."

"The required disinfection of equipment between processing batches of organic and conventional meats may explain our findings of reduced bacterial contamination on products from facilities that process both types of meats,”

"How we raise animals matters,”

"As a veterinarian, I recognize that we sometimes need to use antibiotics to treat sick animals, but taking advantage of opportunities to reduce antibiotics use could benefit everyone. Consumer choice and regulatory oversight are two strategies to do this."

Sauna for good health

A January 2018 study by the University of Eastern Finland said taking a sauna bath of 30 minutes reduces blood pressure and increases vascular compliance, while also increasing heart rate similarly to medium-intensity exercise.