exercise tagged posts

Exercise, alone or in combination with education, may reduce the risk of low back pain, a meta-analysis and review of medical literature suggests. Daniel Steffens, Ph.D., of the University of Sydney, Australia, and coauthors identified 23 published reports (on 21 different randomized clinical trials including 30,850 participants) that met their inclusion criteria.

Moderate-quality evidence suggests exercise combined with education reduces the risk of an episode of low back pain and low- to very low-quality evidence suggests exercise alone may reduce the risk of both a low back pain episode and the use of sick leave. Other interventions, including education alone, back belts and shoe inserts do not appear to be associated with the prevention of low back pain.

“Although our review found evi...

Microbes under a microscope. Credit: NIAID

The research indicates that there may be a window of opportunity during early human development to optimize the chances of better lifelong health.
“Exercise affects many aspects of health, both metabolic and mental, and people are only now starting to look at the plasticity of these gut microbes,” said Prof Monika Fleshner. Microbes take up residence within human intestines shortly after birth and are vital to the development of the immune system and various neural functions. These microbes can add as many 5 million genes to a person’s overall genetic profile and thus have tremendous power to influence aspects of human physiology.

While this diverse microbial community remains somewhat malleable throughout adult life and can be influenced by envir...

A new University of Iowa study in mice indicates that exercise causes muscle to release a peptide that improves energy production and endurance. Credit: Ekaterina Subbotina

The study shows that Musclin, is an “exercise factor” – a hormone-like substance made by skeletal muscle in response to exercise and released into the bloodstream. The study shows that increased levels of circulating musclin trigger a signaling cascade that improves muscle performance and promotes production of mitochondria in muscle cells.

“Exercise is an extremely powerful way to improve people’s health, but unfortunately, increasing physical activity can be really difficult in many circumstances,” says Assoc. Prof. L Zingman, MD...

Doctors have shown the benefits of a healthy diet and exercise in patients with heart failure. The annual congress of the Mexican Society of Cardiology is being held in Acapulco from 21 to 25 November 2015. Experts from the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) will present a special programme

In Mexico there are 750,000 patients living with heart failure and the problem is growing. It is estimated that 75,000 more patients will get heart failure each year. “Just 25% of men and 38% of women with heart failure in Mexico will be alive after 5 years,” said Dr Arturo Orea...