The Power of Motion

What would happen if we started putting our bodies in motion each day? What would happen if we stopped sitting so much, depending on so many conveniences, and rather used our own bodies to complete our tasks? We often don’t realize the amazing power in moving our bodies! Regular movement provides the solution to many…

At-home and Group Exercise Cuts Falls in Seniors

Group and home-based exercise programs decrease the risk of falling among the elderly living in the community according to a large review and meta-analysis. Group exercise decreased the risk of falling by 15% compared to no exercise, and at-home activities reduced the risk by 22%. Targeting at least two of the following factors was effective in reducing…

Physical Activity Improves Bone Health

Research at King Abdulaziz Univeristy in Saudia Arabia has found that premenopausal women who exercised more than 120 minutes per week had significantly (P<0.0001) better biomarkers for bone health than those who exercised less than 30 minutes weekly. A follow-up study also found that bone mineral density was significantly higher (P<0.0001) in the active group versus the…

Teen Physical Activity Enhances Quality of Life

A five-year study involving 1,216 adolescents has found that the those who spent the most time in outdoor physical activity had higher quality of life (QoL) scores than those who spent the least. In contrast, those who had the highest (vs. lowest) amount of screen time (TV, computer, etc.) had significantly lower QoL scores. PositiveTip: Physical…

Fit or Fat? Breast Cancer Risk

Researchers at the University of North Carolina have found that women who are highly active--whether walking, running or anything inbetween--appear to be significantly protected from breast cancer. Those who exercised 2 hours on most days had 30% lower risk of developing breast cancer compared to those who got little or no activity. They also found…

Exercise Can Affect Thinking

It is not just formal exercise that reduces the risk of Alzheimer's disease. Researchers in Chicago have found that ordinary activities, such as housework, walking, and gardening, may reduce the risk of cognitive impairment. People in the bottom 10% of total physical activity were more than twice as likely to develop Alzheimer's when compared to…

Friends Influence Friends to be Active

When it comes to exercise, kids tend to imitate their friends. Vanderbilt University researchers found the largest influence on how much moderate-to-vigorous physical activity 5-12 year olds in after-school programs got was how much their close friends got. The kids in this ethnically diverse group also altered their activity level by 10% or more to match their…

Keeping the Mind Spry

Senior residents of Olmstead County, MN who reported getting any amount of moderate exercise and used a computer at any point in the previous year were 64% less likely to have mild cognitive impairment compared to those who reported neither of those activities. This is the first study to explore the combined effects of physical activity…

Move It or Lose It

A recent study shows that the most active older adults are 2.3 times less likely to develop Alzheimer's disease (AD) during a 3.5 year follow-up than the least active group. In this study, a group of 716 people with an average age of 82 wore an actigraph for 10 continous days. This small sensor recorded…

Regular Workouts May Improve Prostate Cancer

A small study has shown that regular, vigorous exercise has the potential to down-regulate tumor promoter genes and up-regulate tumor suppression genes in men with prostate cancer. Researchers at the University of San Francisco found that working out at least 3 hours per week was associated with this benefit. However, lesser amounts had little effect…