July 24, 2006 — International guidelines for physical activity for children should be increased to 90 minutes per day, according to the results of a cross-sectional study reported in the July 22 issue of The Lancet.
"Atherosclerosis develops from early childhood; physical activity could positively affect this process," write Lars Bo Andersen, MD, from the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences in Oslo, Norway, and colleagues. "This study's aim was to assess the associations of objectively measured physical activity with clustering of cardiovascular disease risk factors in children and derive guidelines on the basis of this analysis."
In this cross-sectional study, 1732 randomly selected 9-year-old and 15-year-old school children from Denmark, Estonia, and Portugal were evaluated for physical activity using accelerometry and for cardiovascular risk factors. The composite risk factor score (mean of Z scores) included systolic blood pressure, triglyceride levels, total cholesterol/high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol ratio, insulin resistance, sum of 4 skinfolds, and aerobic fitness. At-risk individuals were defined as those with a risk score 1 SD above the normal.
Compared with the most active quintile, odds ratios for having clustered risk for ascending quintiles of physical activity (counts per minute) were 3.29 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.96 - 5.52), 3.13 (95% CI, 1.87 - 5.25), 2.51 (95% CI, 1.47 - 4.26), and 2.03 (95% CI, 1.18 - 3.50), respectively. In all analyses, risk was elevated in the first to the third quintile of physical activity. The mean time spent above 2000 counts per minute in the fourth quintile was 116 minutes per day in 9-year-old children and 88 minutes per day in 15-year-old teenagers.
Study limitations include cross-sectional design; use of a composite score; guidelines derived from these analyses only related to metabolic health and not to bone health, psychological well-being, or other dimensions of health; inability of the physical activity measure to capture cycling, swimming, and load-bearing activity; and assessment of physical activity for only 4 days.
"Physical activity is important for metabolic health in children," the authors conclude. "To prevent clustering of cardiovascular disease risk factors, physical activity levels should be higher than the current international guidelines of at least 1 h per day of physical activity of at least moderate intensity. Achieving 90 min of daily activity might be necessary for children to prevent insulin resistance, which seems to be the central feature for clustering of cardiovascular disease risk factors."
The authors have disclosed no relevant financial relationships. The Danish Heart Foundation, the Danish Medical Research Council, the Danish Council for Sports Research, and the Estonian Science Foundation supported this study.
In an accompanying editorial, Ram Weiss, MD, from Hadassah Hebrew University Hospital in Jerusalem, Israel, calls this "a well-designed investigation."
"In addition to aerobic activity, resistance training might have beneficial effects on the development of lean body-mass and muscular strength, both of which might facilitate long-term participation in regular physical activity," Dr. Weiss writes. "To achieve such levels in all children, daily physical activity should be in the curriculum, with traditional athletics and enjoyable activities for different ages. The implementation of such interventions in schools should be a strong priority because physical activity represents a major disease prevention measure and can promote future beneficial lifestyle practices."
Thursday, August 03, 2006
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Health Alert: Lack of Sleep Affects Weight Gain
You can see the previous Post which links Sleep and Breast Cancer. Now there is another study linking lack of sleep with wieght gain in women. This is significant, not so much in terms of appearance, but for the links between obesity and women's health risks such as heart disease and diabetes. If you haven't already seen this article, please read it and pass it on to your family and friends.
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women who fail to get enough shut-eye each night risk gaining weight, a Cleveland-based researcher reported at a medical conference in San Diego today.
In a long-term study of middle-aged women, those who slept 5 hours or less each night were 32 percent more likely to gain a significant amount of weight (adding 33 pounds or more) and 15 percent more likely to become obese during 16 years of follow-up than women who slept 7 hours each night.
This level of weight gain -- 15 kg, or 33 pounds -- is "very clinically significant in terms of risk of diabetes and heart disease," Dr. Sanjay Patel of Case Western Reserve University told Reuters Health.
Women who slept 6 hours nightly were 12 percent more likely to experience major weight gain and 6 percent more likely to become obese compared with those who slept 7 hours each night.
The 68,183 women in the study provided information in 1986 on their typical night's sleep and reported their weight every 2 years for 16 years. The findings were presented at the American Thoracic Society's International Conference.
Women who said they slept for 5 hours or less each night, on average, weighed 5.4 pounds more at the beginning of the study than those sleeping 7 hours.
After accounting for the influence of age and weight at the beginning of the study, women who slept 5 hours or less each night gained about 2.3 pounds more during follow-up than those who slept 7 hours nightly. Women who got 6 hours of shut-eye each night gained 1.5 pounds more than those who slept 7 hours nightly.
The researchers analyzed the diets and physical activity levels of the women, but failed to find any differences that could explain why women who slept less weighed more. "We actually found that women who slept less, ate less," Patel said.
"In terms of exercise, we saw a small difference in that women who slept less exercised slightly less than women who slept more but it didn't explain the magnitude of our findings," Patel said.
All in all, it seems that diet and exercise are not accounting for the weight gain in women who sleep less, Patel concluded.
It's possible that sleeping less may affect changes in a person's basal metabolic rate -- the number of calories burned when at rest, Patel said.
Another possible contributor to weight regulation that's come to light recently is called "non-exercise associated thermogenesis" or NEAT, which refers to involuntary activity such as fidgeting or standing instead of sitting. It may be, Patel said, that if people who sleep less, also move around or "fidget" less.
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women who fail to get enough shut-eye each night risk gaining weight, a Cleveland-based researcher reported at a medical conference in San Diego today.
In a long-term study of middle-aged women, those who slept 5 hours or less each night were 32 percent more likely to gain a significant amount of weight (adding 33 pounds or more) and 15 percent more likely to become obese during 16 years of follow-up than women who slept 7 hours each night.
This level of weight gain -- 15 kg, or 33 pounds -- is "very clinically significant in terms of risk of diabetes and heart disease," Dr. Sanjay Patel of Case Western Reserve University told Reuters Health.
Women who slept 6 hours nightly were 12 percent more likely to experience major weight gain and 6 percent more likely to become obese compared with those who slept 7 hours each night.
The 68,183 women in the study provided information in 1986 on their typical night's sleep and reported their weight every 2 years for 16 years. The findings were presented at the American Thoracic Society's International Conference.
Women who said they slept for 5 hours or less each night, on average, weighed 5.4 pounds more at the beginning of the study than those sleeping 7 hours.
After accounting for the influence of age and weight at the beginning of the study, women who slept 5 hours or less each night gained about 2.3 pounds more during follow-up than those who slept 7 hours nightly. Women who got 6 hours of shut-eye each night gained 1.5 pounds more than those who slept 7 hours nightly.
The researchers analyzed the diets and physical activity levels of the women, but failed to find any differences that could explain why women who slept less weighed more. "We actually found that women who slept less, ate less," Patel said.
"In terms of exercise, we saw a small difference in that women who slept less exercised slightly less than women who slept more but it didn't explain the magnitude of our findings," Patel said.
All in all, it seems that diet and exercise are not accounting for the weight gain in women who sleep less, Patel concluded.
It's possible that sleeping less may affect changes in a person's basal metabolic rate -- the number of calories burned when at rest, Patel said.
Another possible contributor to weight regulation that's come to light recently is called "non-exercise associated thermogenesis" or NEAT, which refers to involuntary activity such as fidgeting or standing instead of sitting. It may be, Patel said, that if people who sleep less, also move around or "fidget" less.
Saturday, April 29, 2006
Integrative Medicine Research Project
Very soon I will be joining the Children's Memorial Hospital Integrative Medicine research project in Chicago. Energy Healing has many benefits to offer to patients in the hospital setting, and so I am happily looking forward to offering my work to the young patients in Children's Memorial.
I'll be egaged in full time research for the project in the capacities of hands-on healer, supervisor of therapists, and educator. It's exciting and important work for the field of energy medicine. There is a link to the web-site under "Important Research Project" in the right hand bar of this site. I invite you to take a look and let me know your thoughts.
I'll be egaged in full time research for the project in the capacities of hands-on healer, supervisor of therapists, and educator. It's exciting and important work for the field of energy medicine. There is a link to the web-site under "Important Research Project" in the right hand bar of this site. I invite you to take a look and let me know your thoughts.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
