Feature Channels: Exercise and Fitness

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Latest Research Highlights from ACSM— September 2015

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Across the country, many employees are seated at desks for the majority of an eight-hour workday. As technology creates an increase in sedentary lifestyles, the impact of sitting on vascular health is a rising concern. Now, researchers from the University of Missouri School of Medicine have found that when a person sits for six straight hours, vascular function is impaired — but by walking for just 10 minutes after a prolonged period of sitting, vascular health can be restored.

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Weight loss and exercise improve ovulation in women who have Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, a common hormone disorder that often causes infertility, according to a new study published in the Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

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As high schools across the country continue to reduce physical education, recess, and athletic programs, a new study shows that regular exercise significantly reduces both suicidal thoughts and attempts among students who are bullied.

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Parkinson’s patients often become sedentary because of motor symptoms such as gait, balance problems or falls. However, new U-M research finds that non-exercise physical activity, more than occasional trips to the gym, is linked to less severe motor symptoms.

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High intensity training (HIT) is often recommended as a way to improve cardiovascular fitness in men and women. However, studies on these exercise regimens have focused on younger subjects. University of Copenhagen researchers looked at whether HIT effects were the same for older males and females as those noted in younger adults and found significant differences in the results in men and women.

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Effort highlights health benefits of walking while addressing barriers to access

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Inside our bones there is fat. Diabetes increases the amount of this marrow fat. And now a study from the UNC School of Medicine shows how some diabetes drugs substantially increase bone fat and thus the risk of bone fractures.

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Exercise improves health in overweight and obese adults but can be hard to incorporate into a daily routine. New findings show that taking vitamin C supplements daily instead can have similar cardiovascular benefits as regular exercise in these adults.

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Adults who try to guilt middle-schoolers into exercising won’t get them to be any more active.

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Sarcopenia is a natural part of aging, but it’s also a growing public health concern for older adults. That’s why an Iowa State University researcher is testing a combination of supplements and resistance training to slow or reverse the progression of sarcopenia.

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Exercise training for patients with pulmonary hypertension was shown to be safe and to improve quality of life, according to an analysis by UT Southwestern Medical Center cardiologists of studies involving more than 400 participants.

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The joy of running. That sense of well-being, freedom and extra energy that runners often experience is not just a matter of endorphins. A study at the University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre (CRCHUM) shows that the "runner’s high" phenomenon is also caused by dopamine, an important neurotransmitter for motivation.

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A physical therapy researcher with the IU School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis has been awarded a $465,000 National Institutes of Health grant to optimize aerobic exercise training for patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension -- a goal that data suggests could reduce patient morbidity and mortality.

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Approximately 36 percent of adults in the U.S. do not engage in any leisure-time physical activity. Lack of physical activity accounts for 22 percent of coronary heart disease, 22 percent of colon cancer, 18 percent of osteoporotic fractures, 12 percent of diabetes and hypertension, and 5 percent of breast cancer.

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End the season on a positive note and stay safe while having fun and doing the Monday Mile in the summer sun. Fitness experts offer tips.

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Activity trackers can provide a good overall estimate of calories burned, but an Iowa State University study finds they’re less accurate when measuring certain activities, such as strength training.

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Physical activity has many health benefits. But contrary to common belief, exercise does not help you lose weight, public health scientists report.

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A bomb blast or a rough tackle can inflict serious brain damage. Yet at the time of impact, these injuries are often invisible. To detect head trauma immediately, a team of researchers has developed a polymer-based material that changes colors depending on how hard it is hit. The goal is to someday incorporate this material into protective headgear. They will describe their approach at the 250th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society.

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Aerobic exercise can help alleviate excessive daytime sleepiness among depressed individuals, researchers with UT Southwestern Medical Center’s Center for Depression Research and Clinical Care have found.

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By providing workers with a portable pedaling device, Lucas Carr, an assistant professor in the Department of Health and Human Physiology and member of the Obesity Research and Education Initiative at the University of Iowa, discovered people who were once sitting all day were now moving at work without even getting up.

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In an effort to build better bodies, more men are turning not to illegal anabolic steroids, but to legal over-the-counter bodybuilding supplements to the point where it may qualify as an emerging eating disorder, according to research presented at the American Psychological Association’s annual convention.

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Women who exercised during their teen years were less likely to die from cancer and all other causes during middle-age and later in life, according to a new study by investigators at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and the Shanghai Cancer Institute in China.

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Many lifestyle factors cause heart disease, and exercise may not be enough to prevent heart attacks. A new study shows that regular exercise can still benefit the heart after a heart attack occurs. This research is highlighted as one of this month’s “best of the best” as part of the American Physiological Society’s APSselect program.

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Director of Sports Medicine at Loyola Health System provides tips for exercise safety during the summer.

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Scientists from the University of Southampton have developed a molecule that acts as an exercise mimic, which could potentially help treat type 2 diabetes and obesity.

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Other topics include ethnic disparities in pain treatment, colon cancer and IBD, halting Liver cancer, and more...

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A clinical study finds that regular consumption of beet juice had positive cardiovascular effects on subjects during exercise and led to increased endurance. The study is published ahead of print in the American Journal of Physiology - Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology.

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College women who are more emotionally invested in Facebook and have lots of Facebook friends are less concerned with body size and shape and less likely to engage in risky dieting behaviors. But that’s only if they aren’t using Facebook to compare their bodies to their friends’ bodies, according to the authors of a surprising new study at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine.

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Iowa State University researchers analyzing data from the NFL PLAY 60 FITNESSGRAM Partnership Project found that fitness levels for children in first through 12th grade sharply declined as students got older.

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University of Missouri researchers have found that certain types of weight-lifting and jumping exercises, when completed for at least six months, improve bone density in active, healthy, middle-aged men with low bone mass. These exercises may help prevent osteoporosis by facilitating bone growth, according to the study published in Bone.

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A physical education program that brings commercial-grade fitness equipment to under-resourced schools, along with a curriculum based on boosting confidence and making participation more enjoyable, dramatically increases students’ performance on California’s standardized physical fitness test, a UCLA study has found.

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While the risks of dehydration are well known, new international guidelines seek to protect athletes from the serious health risks associated with drinking too many fluids while exercising.

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Developing any habit starts with a routine. The trick is making exercise a habit that is hard to break. A new Iowa State University study shows that may be easier to accomplish by focusing on cues that make going to the gym automatic.

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Other topics include autism research, biofuel sources, nutrition supplements, and more...

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Fit & Strong!, an exercise program tailored to break the cycle of weakening and pain in older adults with osteoarthritis and developed at the University of Illinois at Chicago, may soon be covered by Medicare.

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The benefits of exercise are well known, but physical fitness becomes increasingly difficult as people age or develop ailments, creating a downward spiral into poor health. Now researchers at Duke Medicine report there may be a way to improve exercise tolerance and, by extension, its positive effects.

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Other topics include repairing injured nerves, busted heart attack treatment, decorative brain molecules, and more...

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McGill kinesiology researcher Julie Cote is interested in finding ways to reduce or even prevent the kinds of muscular and skeletal stresses and pains that will affect one in ten office workers at some point in their careers.

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Other topics include; grape seed oil to reduce obesity, gender differences in chronic pain, workplace wellness, healthcare in rural Africa after Ebola, cancer treatment, and finding a cure for MERS.

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For hikers, football players, endurance athletes, and a growing range of elite and recreational exercisers, the best approach to preventing potentially serious reductions in blood sodium level is to drink when thirsty, according to an updated consensus statement on exercise-associated hyponatremia (EAH). The recommendations appear in the June issue of the Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine, published by Wolters Kluwer.

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Other topics include weight loss, medical marijuana, smart traffic lights, diabetes, heart disease, and more.

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While previous research suggests tart cherry juice may help aid muscle recovery after extensive exercise, a new pilot study published in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition found that Montmorency tart cherry juice reduced upper respiratory tract symptoms associated with marathon running in study participants. Post-race sniffles are a common problem among endurance athletes.

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Research shows sitting too long at work can lead to chronic health problems in the long term. Kansas State University kinesiology and human nutrition experts give simple tips to incorporating activity into your daily work routine.

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Diabetics who exercise can trim waist size and body fat, and control blood glucose, even if they don’t see cardiorespiratory benefits, new research by UT Southwestern Medical Center cardiologists shows.

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While participating in physical activities such as bike riding, dancing, walking and gardening and mentally stimulating activities such as crosswords and reading may reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, they may not do so by affecting the underlying markers for the disease, according to a study published in the June 10, 2015, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

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By knowing your limits, dressing appropriately and drinking the right things, you can stay safe during summertime exercise, and ensure the benefits you realize are not outweighed by heat-related illnesses that can take a toll on the body.