Harvard Health Letter

Balance exercises can help prevent falls. And here’s a reason why you shouldn’t wait to work on your balance skills: A small study from Harvard researchers, published online Oct. 3, 2016, by Frontiers of Neurology, suggests that the vestibular system in the inner ear (which helps detect motion and maintain balance) starts to decline early in middle age and gets worse with each passing decade. Researchers tested 105 healthy people, ages 18 to 80, and measured how sensitive they were to different types of motion. People age 40 or older had trouble perceiving motions correctly and passing a standardized balance test. The older they were, the harder it was to pass the test. And using information from other studies, the researchers speculated that as many as 150,000 people may die each year from falls related to vestibular problems. While that’s speculation, one thing is certain: it’s never too early to improve your balance.

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By Heidi Godman

Executive Editor, Harvard Health Letter

You might be focused on outcomes when you exercise: stronger muscles, weight loss, or other aspects of better health and wellness. But if you don’t focus on the exercise, and what it takes to do it safely, you may set yourself up for workout injuries.

Start strong

Safe exercise requires planning and careful execution. Start by finding the best exercise for your ability. For example, if you have joint pain, you can avoid workout injuries by choosing exercise that relieves joint pressure, such as swimming or cycling. If you have balance problems, a supervised exercise program with a personal trainer might be a safer bet. Discuss the options with your doctor, a personal trainer, or a friend; and get the okay from your doctor before starting a program, especially if you have heart or lung disease.

Medical News Today

Written by Ana Sandoiu

A study led by the University of Sydney in Australia has found that gradually increasing muscle strength through activities such as weightlifting improves cognitive function.
[Elderly woman showing off her muscles]
Stronger muscles reduce cognitive impairment in elderly patients.
The study was conducted in collaboration with the Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing (CHeBA) at the University of New South Wales and the University of Adelaide.

The results have been published in the Journal of American Geriatrics.

The trial involved a Study of Mental and Resistance Training (SMART) carried out on patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) between 55-68 years old. Patients with MCI have a higher risk of developing dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. READ MORE

November 4, 2016
Source:American Physiological Society (APS)

Twelve weeks of aerobic exercise significantly boosted testosterone levels in overweight and obese men, with the greatest increases seen among vigorous exercisers, according to research presented at the Integrative Biology of Exercise 7 meeting in Phoenix.

Researchers from Tsukuba University and Ryutsu Keizai University in Japan previously found that a combination of diet and exercise was effective in increasing the testosterone in this population. For this study, however, they looked specifically at the effect of regular aerobic exercise on testosterone levels.

“Testosterone is a male sex hormone, and low circulating testosterone levels lead to various health disorders in men. Obesity, one of the biggest problems in the world, results in reduction in circulating testosterone levels in men,” the research team wrote. Fatigue, decreased sex drive and decreases in muscle and bone mass are some of the common symptoms of low testosterone in men.

American Physiological Society (APS)

Fathers who exercise regularly before their children are conceived may program their offspring’s genes with an increased risk for metabolic disorders, according to new research. The surprising results point to the identification of epigenetic markers that may change the process of diagnosis and management of chronic disease. READ MORE

by Megan Senger on Apr 14, 2014

A woman’s body will change more in 9 months of pregnancy than a man’s will in his lifetime—and she needs an exercise program to match the transformation. So says maternal exercise expert Farel Hruska, national fitness director of FIT4MOM® (formerly Stroller Strides®) in San Diego. “The biomechanics of motherhood are unique and specific,” Hruska explains. “A mom-to-be will need to master strength, agility, balance, speed, acceleration, deceleration, directional change and rotation . . . all with load that increases every day.”READ MORE

BY KAREN REED MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2016

Swimming is a perfect combination of cardio and resistance training. To move through the water, your arms, legs, shoulders, hips, and torso have to work hard. The whole-body energy expenditure raises your heart rate and the fact that you’re underwater forces you to regulate your breathing. The result: one hell of a cardio and resistance training workout!

The truth is that swimming workouts are as good as it gets, for some reasons:

Improves Musculature — With resistance training, you often end up with big, bulky muscle. With cardio, you end up lean with less muscle definition. But swimming workouts deliver a beautiful combination of both. You develop long, lean muscles with serious endurance. If you round out your swimming workout with regular resistance training, you can have better all-around musculature. FOR  MORE