Oct 31, 2019 07:19 PM
Increase health benefits of exercise by working out before breakfast – new research
https://www.bath.ac.uk/announcements/inc...-research/
EXCERPT: According to a new study, published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism health scientists at the universities of Bath and Birmingham found that by changing the timing of when you eat and exercise, people can better control their blood sugar levels.
[...] Dr Javier Gonzalez of the Department for Health at the University of Bath explained: “Our results suggest that changing the timing of when you eat in relation to when you exercise can bring about profound and positive changes to your overall health.“We found that the men in the study who exercised before breakfast burned double the amount of fat than the group who exercised after. Importantly, whilst this didn’t have any effect on weight loss, it did dramatically improve their overall health. The group who exercised before breakfast increased their ability to respond to insulin, which is all the more remarkable given that both exercise groups lost a similar amount of weight and both gained a similar amount of fitness. The only difference was the timing of the food intake...” (MORE - details)
Here’s a brain teaser: Surprising study shows reduced neuronal activity extends life
https://www.statnews.com/2019/10/16/redu...ife-study/
EXCERPT: . . . scientists reported a driver of aging that, in contrast, even the lead researcher diplomatically calls “counterintuitive”: neuronal activity. Aging, of course, affects the brain. But the brain seems to affect aging, too, they found: In creatures from worms to mice to people, high levels of neuronal firing spell a shorter life span. Lower levels — naturally, or due to drugs that dampen neurons’ activity — increase longevity.
The discovery was so surprising that it’s taken two years to be published (in Nature) because of how much additional data the outside scientists reviewing the study requested. Geneticist Bruce Yankner of Harvard Medical School, who led the research, understood their skepticism. “If you say you have a cat in your backyard, people believe you,” he said. “If you say you have a zebra, they want more evidence.”
So evidence is what he and his colleagues kept generating, in humans and mice and the roundworm C. elegans that has long been biology’s go-to animal for studies of aging, finally persuading the skeptics. “I think this is a significant new finding,” said molecular biologist Nektarios Tavernarakis ... who reviewed the paper for Nature. “It’s definitely a surprising twist in the saga of aging, but it’s too early to talk about manipulating the human lifespan based on this. In my opinion, things are going to be more complicated.”
On the other hand, earlier studies have hinted that excessive neuronal activity is a factor in dementia, and some Alzheimer’s experts recommend yoga and meditation (both of which can quiet the brain) as possible ways to slow the progression of that life-shortening disease. Now, with the additional evidence linking neuronal activity to life span, the idea that neuron-quieting drugs might one day extend life span seems somewhat less far-fetched... (MORE - details)
Research shows that early retirement can accelerate cognitive decline
https://www.binghamton.edu/news/story/21...ve-decline
EXCERPT: Early retirement can accelerate cognitive decline among the elderly, according to research conducted by faculty at Binghamton University, State University of New York. Plamen Nikolov, assistant professor of economics, and Alan Adelman, a doctoral student in economics, examined China’s New Rural Pension Scheme (NRPS) and the Chinese Health and Retirement Longitudinal Survey (CHARLS) to determine the effects of pension benefits on individual cognition of those ages 60 or above. CHARLS, a nationally representative survey of people ages 45 and above within the Chinese population, is a sister survey of the U.S. Health and Retirement Survey and directly tests cognition with a focus on episodic memory and components of intact mental status.
[...] “We were surprised to find that pension benefits and retirement actually resulted in reduced cognitive performance. In a different study we found a very robust finding that the introduction of pension benefits and retirement led to positive health benefits via improvements in sleep and the reduction of alcohol consumption and smoking,” he [Nikolov] said. “The fact that retirement led to reduced cognitive performance in and of itself is a stark finding about an unsuspected, puzzling issue, but a finding with extremely important welfare implications for one’s quality of life in old age.”
While pension benefits and retirement were found to lead to improved health, these programs also induced a stark and much more negative influence on other dimensions: social activities, activities associated with mental fitness and social engagement, more broadly. “For cognition among the elderly, it looks like the negative effect on social engagement far outweighed the positive effect of the program on nutrition and sleep,” said Nikolov. “Or alternatively, the kinds of things that matter and determine better health might simply be very different than the kinds of things that matter for better cognition among the elderly. Social engagement and connectedness may simply be the single most powerful factors for cognitive performance in old age.”
Nikolov said he hopes this research will help create new policies to improve the cognitive functioning of older generations during retirement. “We hope our findings will influence retirees themselves but perhaps, more importantly, it will influence policymakers in developing countries,” Nikolov said. “We show robust evidence that retirement has important benefits. But it also has considerable costs. Cognitive impairments among the elderly, even if not severely debilitating, bring about a loss of quality of life and can have negative welfare consequences. Policymakers can introduce policies aimed at buffering the reduction of social engagement and mental activities. In this sense, retirement programs can generate positive spillovers for health status of retirees without the associated negative effect on their cognition...” (MORE - details)
https://www.bath.ac.uk/announcements/inc...-research/
EXCERPT: According to a new study, published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism health scientists at the universities of Bath and Birmingham found that by changing the timing of when you eat and exercise, people can better control their blood sugar levels.
[...] Dr Javier Gonzalez of the Department for Health at the University of Bath explained: “Our results suggest that changing the timing of when you eat in relation to when you exercise can bring about profound and positive changes to your overall health.“We found that the men in the study who exercised before breakfast burned double the amount of fat than the group who exercised after. Importantly, whilst this didn’t have any effect on weight loss, it did dramatically improve their overall health. The group who exercised before breakfast increased their ability to respond to insulin, which is all the more remarkable given that both exercise groups lost a similar amount of weight and both gained a similar amount of fitness. The only difference was the timing of the food intake...” (MORE - details)
Here’s a brain teaser: Surprising study shows reduced neuronal activity extends life
https://www.statnews.com/2019/10/16/redu...ife-study/
EXCERPT: . . . scientists reported a driver of aging that, in contrast, even the lead researcher diplomatically calls “counterintuitive”: neuronal activity. Aging, of course, affects the brain. But the brain seems to affect aging, too, they found: In creatures from worms to mice to people, high levels of neuronal firing spell a shorter life span. Lower levels — naturally, or due to drugs that dampen neurons’ activity — increase longevity.
The discovery was so surprising that it’s taken two years to be published (in Nature) because of how much additional data the outside scientists reviewing the study requested. Geneticist Bruce Yankner of Harvard Medical School, who led the research, understood their skepticism. “If you say you have a cat in your backyard, people believe you,” he said. “If you say you have a zebra, they want more evidence.”
So evidence is what he and his colleagues kept generating, in humans and mice and the roundworm C. elegans that has long been biology’s go-to animal for studies of aging, finally persuading the skeptics. “I think this is a significant new finding,” said molecular biologist Nektarios Tavernarakis ... who reviewed the paper for Nature. “It’s definitely a surprising twist in the saga of aging, but it’s too early to talk about manipulating the human lifespan based on this. In my opinion, things are going to be more complicated.”
On the other hand, earlier studies have hinted that excessive neuronal activity is a factor in dementia, and some Alzheimer’s experts recommend yoga and meditation (both of which can quiet the brain) as possible ways to slow the progression of that life-shortening disease. Now, with the additional evidence linking neuronal activity to life span, the idea that neuron-quieting drugs might one day extend life span seems somewhat less far-fetched... (MORE - details)
Research shows that early retirement can accelerate cognitive decline
https://www.binghamton.edu/news/story/21...ve-decline
EXCERPT: Early retirement can accelerate cognitive decline among the elderly, according to research conducted by faculty at Binghamton University, State University of New York. Plamen Nikolov, assistant professor of economics, and Alan Adelman, a doctoral student in economics, examined China’s New Rural Pension Scheme (NRPS) and the Chinese Health and Retirement Longitudinal Survey (CHARLS) to determine the effects of pension benefits on individual cognition of those ages 60 or above. CHARLS, a nationally representative survey of people ages 45 and above within the Chinese population, is a sister survey of the U.S. Health and Retirement Survey and directly tests cognition with a focus on episodic memory and components of intact mental status.
[...] “We were surprised to find that pension benefits and retirement actually resulted in reduced cognitive performance. In a different study we found a very robust finding that the introduction of pension benefits and retirement led to positive health benefits via improvements in sleep and the reduction of alcohol consumption and smoking,” he [Nikolov] said. “The fact that retirement led to reduced cognitive performance in and of itself is a stark finding about an unsuspected, puzzling issue, but a finding with extremely important welfare implications for one’s quality of life in old age.”
While pension benefits and retirement were found to lead to improved health, these programs also induced a stark and much more negative influence on other dimensions: social activities, activities associated with mental fitness and social engagement, more broadly. “For cognition among the elderly, it looks like the negative effect on social engagement far outweighed the positive effect of the program on nutrition and sleep,” said Nikolov. “Or alternatively, the kinds of things that matter and determine better health might simply be very different than the kinds of things that matter for better cognition among the elderly. Social engagement and connectedness may simply be the single most powerful factors for cognitive performance in old age.”
Nikolov said he hopes this research will help create new policies to improve the cognitive functioning of older generations during retirement. “We hope our findings will influence retirees themselves but perhaps, more importantly, it will influence policymakers in developing countries,” Nikolov said. “We show robust evidence that retirement has important benefits. But it also has considerable costs. Cognitive impairments among the elderly, even if not severely debilitating, bring about a loss of quality of life and can have negative welfare consequences. Policymakers can introduce policies aimed at buffering the reduction of social engagement and mental activities. In this sense, retirement programs can generate positive spillovers for health status of retirees without the associated negative effect on their cognition...” (MORE - details)