Taking a road trip, or most other forms of travel for that matter, is good for your brain health because you are constantly exposed to novelty (assuming you don’t keep on taking the same trip). And we know from previous research (see this post on enriched environment) that novelty increases brain health by promoting neurogenesis.…
Category: exercise
exercise
The age of Olympians
by Ward • • 2 Comments
Jeannie Longo, Image via Wikipedia The Olympics is a gathering of the world’s greatest athletes, but does it have something to tell us regarding general trends? Sure, two 21 year olds from Jamaica won the men and women 100 meter sprints (traditionally sprinters peak at around 25): youth was served, but is there any hope…
enriched environment, exercise, lifespan, longevity
45 minutes of vigorous exercise 6 days a week 52 weeks a year to increase your survival rate.
by Ward • • 1 Comment
Image via Wikipedia Yesterday, I wrote a piece about a recent paper that found that runners had a higher survival rate and a lower rate of disability as they aged compared to non-runners. While I had a few problems with the study in the end I agreed with the authors conclusions (mainly a problem of…
exercise, lifespan, longevity
Keep moving for greater health and longevity
by Ward • • 1 Comment
How many of hours of aerobic exercise are you doing each week? How much should you be doing? 50+ year olds that run were less likely to die and had lower disability scores as they aged compared to non-runners. The new research paper was published by Chakravarty et al., 2008 a group from Stanford University…
exercise, lifespan
Heart rate variability: health predictor and what you can do about it.
by Ward • • 2 Comments
Low heart rate variability (HRV) s associated with reduced lifespan, cardiovascular diseases (CVD), diabetes, several mental health diseases and a growing list of other conditions I will cover in this post. For a more thorough background check out my two previous posts: heart measurements for your health , what heart rate measurements can tell you…
exercise, neuroeconomics
Bad news, good news: obesity, less driving
by Ward • • 2 Comments
A new study is predicting that 86 % of Americans could be overweight by 2030, if current trends continue. Among the population 51.1 % are projected to be obese. Health care costs due to the overweight would be 16 – 18 % of the total health care costs (via John Hopkins Bloomberg school of public…
enriched environment, exercise, lifespan
Walking speed.
by Ward • • 2 Comments
Image by Getty Images via Daylife Yesterday, I posted a piece about research that indicates that walking speed is a good predictor for mortality in 70-79 year old (original research paper). I then challenged people to see if they could walk as fast as the those people in their 70s. “Now most of you reading…
brain health, exercise, lifespan
How fast you can walk 400m and what it means for your life ?
by Ward • • 3 Comments
The time it took people to walk 400m (1 lap around a high school track) was found to predict chances of dying and risk of cardiovascular disease. Newman et. al., 2006 (freely available) examined 3,075 subjects for both their walking speed then continued to track these subjects health. Now the subjects were 70-79 years old,…
brain health, exercise
Why low levels of the good cholesterol is bad for your brain
by Ward • • 1 Comment
Low levels of the good cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL), is linked with worse memory performance. So here is another example of what is traditionally considered a heart health measurement that also give us important information about our brain health (see here). The nice thing about the various cholesterol measurements is that many of you will…
exercise, Uncategorized
Are some neighborhoods more high gas price friendly than others?
by Ward • • 0 Comments
Image via Wikipedia Yesterday I wrote about the possible health benefits of high gas prices – that people start using human powered transportation, lose weight and become healthier. However, using a bike or traveling by foot is not practical in all situations. Are people taking into considerations how easy it is to get about without…