Just an hour a day keeps the weight away
Yikes! Seems like every time you turn around, there’s another study upping the ante on exercise. Last year, I wrote about 2005 USDA guidelines suggesting that adults need about 60 to 90 minutes of moderate physical activity a day for health and weight maintenance, i.e. at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise daily to stave off gradual, unhealthy body weight combined 30 minutes daily can help prevent chronic diseases. To achieve optimal physical fitness, the recommendations suggested the incorporation of cardiovascular conditioning, weight training, and resistance exercise to improve strength and endurance. Conversely, 2008 Federal Guidelines suggested that adults needed about 150 minutes per week of moderate intensity exercise to maintain health, while the Institute of Medicine suggested 60 minutes a day to prevent weight gain. Confused yet?
Researchers followed a group of over 34,000 women (mean age ~54) for 13 years, examining their amount and type of weekly physical activity (e.g. high versus low intensity), body weight, height, menopausal status, use of hormones or not, chronic disease, alcohol use, smoking and diet. (If you’re wondering, high intensity refers to running. bicycling, aerobic exercise or dance or use of aerobic machines, while low intensity refers to yoga, stretching, tennis, squash or racquetball, and lap swimming.)
Overall, study findings showed that on n average and regardless of physical activity level, women gained almost 6 pounds over the course of the study. However, women who exercised anywhere from 2.5 hours to less than 7 hours a week gained significantly more weight then women who exercised at least 7 hours a week (or one hour a day). In fact, women who exercised less than an hour a day were significantly more likely to gain at least 5 pounds over the first three years of the study. Note that these results apply only to normal weight women (body mass index <25).
I’ve recently increased my level of physical activity to an hour a day, not because of these study results but because I’ve been unhappy about the hormonally-driven tire that’s starting to appear around my midsection. I must tell you; it’s a huge time commitment. Undoubtedly, if you are busy in your career or with your children, finding an hour a day to exercise can be difficult. What remains unclear is whether or not this hour can be divided into increments.
What do you think? Do you have the time? Are you motivated? Or does this information discourage you?
Read MoreWednesday Bubble: No pain, no…killing two birds with one stone?
Got pain? It is possible that if you regularly use aspirin, acetaminophen or NSAIDS (e.g. ibuprofen) during menopause, you may be reducing your risk for breast or ovarian cancer as well. Sort of a two birds with one stone approach. I like it!
This latest bit of great news comes from analyses of blood samples and questionnaires collected from 740 women who participated in a breast cancer trial as part of the Nurses Health Study, an ongoing investigation of factors that influence women’s health. At the time that information was collected, the women had no cancer, were in menopause and had not used hormones.Study findings, which are published in Cancer, Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention showed that on average, mean levels of naturally estrogen (i.e. estradiol), were more than 10% lower among women who reported regular use of aspirin or NSAIDS, and 15% lower among women reporting use of any sort of analgesic agent.
Although this specific study did not look at the link between hormones levels and cancer, previous studies have shown use of NSAIDs may lower breast cancer risk by as much as 12% to 25%; the evidence for ovarian cancer isn’t quite that strong.
Mind you, researchers say that these results don’t actually confirm if aspirin-like drugs cause estrogen levels to drop but there is an association. More research is needed to see if there is a firm link between declines in hormones after analgesic use and lower risk or breast or ovarian cancer. If it is true, there is a possibility that aspirin-like drugs could be used more regularly in this fashion.
Read MoreGot fat? Soyrry but soy won’t help!
Novel research suggests that eating soy protein won’t affect overall body composition, even though there has been some past evidence that isoflavones in soy may help build muscle mass and break down fat. What’s the 4-11?
In this latest bit of data, 299 postmenopausal women with body-mass indices of around 25 (signifying “overweight”) too either placebo or soy isoflavone tablets for a year. The findings? Ingesting soy isoflavones had no significant effect on either body composition or on specific hormones that control appetite. The one factor that contributed to fat mass? The amount of total fat consumed.
Seems that the way to a more muscle mass is not through soy but rather, through a healthy diet and of course, exercise. Still, can we women ‘of a certain age’ get rid of the tire that’s forming around our middle? I’d love to hear how if you’ve got some ideas. Even my trainer admits that hormonal changes add to the roll and that it’s difficult to get rid of it completely.
Fortunately, the folks at Rush University Medical Center will be studying this midlife dilemma over the next five years. While they say that there’s no way to completely eliminate the tire, there are ways to minimize it. Stay tuned!
Read MoreWISHFIT: women’s research takes a village.
I was heartened to read that the folks at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago have partnered with a community of local women to fight obesity and promote a healthier menopausal transition. What’s especially novel about this program, which is called WISHFIT (Women in Southside Health FIT), is that during the first year of the five-year study, it will be relying on “pioneers” for guidance in designing and testing the program and subsequently spreading the word. One of the program’s primary researchers, Dr. Sheila Dugan, who is an Associate Professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Rush University Medical School, characterizes the approach as “community-based participatory medicine,” with a critical grassroots component. I would go one step further and call it a health 2.0, social media approach to medical research.
The goals of WISHFIT are to ultimately change the behavior of women who are sedentary or engage in physical activity only occasionally in order to help reduce the fat rolls around the midsection (called visceral fat). If you’ve been reading Flashfree for awhile, you will recall that visceral fat is a common problem in menopausal women that is likely related to fluctuating hormone levels as we age. Not only is it unattractive, but the development of fat around the midsection is dangerous because it has been linked with metabolic syndrome, a variety of symptoms that in concordance, increase the risk for heart disease.
Importantly, the National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute, National Institute of Diabetes, Digestion and Kidney Diseases are joining forces with Rush to take the study out of the laboratory setting and into the community. In fact, Dr. Dugan explains that research has shown that “there are millions of studies out there that show if we bring women into the University and have them exercise, they will lose weight and improve their fat composition. But when they are left to their own devices, they go back to themselves.” She says that by having a community of postmenopausal women involved in developing a ‘tool kit’ of physical and stress-reducing activities or activities that help them to embrace healthier eating habits, the researchers are hoping that they can help their premenopausal peers incorporate new ways of thinking and acting so that they can get through menopause in healthier ways. She also points to data showing that change is better maintained not only by motivating the individual but also through the support of friends and social networks, which are needed for change to last.
Dr. Dugan notes that two Southside Chicago communities- Beverly and Morgan Park – have been the subject of prior research (Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation or SWAN) that identified the link between hormonal changes and visceral fat. In fact, some of the data also firmly established the link between markers of chronic disease and stress and sedentary lifestyles. The 30 Pioneers selected to lead the project will be women who participated in SWAN.
The five-year program also includes two studies examining 1) how social networks play a role in influencing health behaviors, and 2) if positive reinforcement works as well as financial incentives in getting women to change their lifestyle and become more physically active. An additional component entails before and after ‘person on the street’ interviews to educate and engage the community about what happens during menopause, heart disease and other risks and steps that can be taken to combat it.
“Midlife women already have all sorts of concerns on their minds. They need to have support around allowing themselves to take care of themselves and give themselves the freedom to actually step out of all their roles to do so. Our goal,” she emphasizes,”is to bring energy — spiritual and financial — to the community because we truly believe that the only way that these women will have a chance to take care of themselves is by everyone around them buying into how important it is.”
Noting that they are taking a three-pronged attack that entails community, social and individual level interventions, Dr. Dugan adds that community and social support are the links that have been missing in obesity research in particular. I’d like to believe that these links have also been missing in gender research that focuses on women; in fact, perhaps this model isthe breakthrough that is needed to change some gender inequities in our healthcare.
It really does take a village, doesn’t it? Only time will tell.
Read MoreWednesday Bubble: Bedfan – the real deal
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8524491813343499145&ei=mu2fS_7UHYP0qwKqr-jDDQ&q=Bedfan&hl=en#]
Seriously, when I wrote about the Bedfan last May, I thought it was a joke, a perfect topic for a futuristic Friday.
Guess what? I’m bursting my own bubble. Because evidently the Bedfan Personal Cooling System is the real deal. In fact, Texas-based Thompkins Research has just announced that Columbian women who suffer from menopausal night sweats will soon have access to the legendary cooler. Seems sort of random, Columbia, but hey, I’m sure that Columbian women sweat as much as their American peers.
Meanwhile, here’s a nifty video of the Bedfan, which the manufacturer says, was developed to keep individuals comfortable at night by eliminating the body heat that builds up between the sheets (sometimes that heat is desirable; just sayin!) Developer Kurt Thompkins explains that the whole idea behind the Bedfan was to deliver a gentle breeze that would float between the sheets to push the hot air out.” Although he developed the concept with his own needs in mind, evidently it’s taken off.
One satisfied consumer is quoted as saying that the device is “analogous to standing under a waterfall without getting wet.”
Hmmm.
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