People ignore healthy options despite experience from loved ones, study shows

UK adults are not taking steps to reduce the chances of developing illnesses, even someone they know has experienced a serious condition, according to research released today by Royal London.

21 JUNE 2016 | CINTIA CHEONG

Heart disease is the least-ignored condition, with 55% of people taking steps to avoid it.

The life insurer believes this is because they don’t know what to do or don’t believe there is anything they can do.

Based on a survey of 2,093 UK adults, almost nine in 10 (85%) know someone who has been diagnosed with cancer, heart disease, diabetes, dementia, Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis or a stroke.

However, 70% have not taken action to reduce the chances of developing dementia or Alzheimer’s. More than half (58%) has not done so to avoid suffering a stroke.

This is followed by cancer (56%) and diabetes (56%). Meanwhile, more than two fifths (42%) have not taken steps against heart disease.

Commenting on this, Trisha Macnair, community doctor at Milford Hospital and Royal Surrey County Hospital, argues “there is so much” that people can do to stay healthy and help prevent serious conditions.

“They may have a vague idea of a few things they should be addressing, but even if they witness a loved-one battling with illness, this is often still not enough to motivate them to protect themselves,” she said.

Macnair is also calling on more action from policymakers and health authorities to encourage people to improve their health, such as facilitating gym access with funding or raising tax on alcohol to reduce consumption.

Dementia and Alzheimer’s are the illnesses where respondents are least confident of knowing how to reduce their risks of developing, with 59% stating they don’t know how to or don’t think there is anything they can do.

Cancer is the second biggest condition where 51% of people demonstrated limited confidence, followed by stroke (44%), heart disease (25%) and diabetes (25%).

Debbie Kennedy, head of protection for Royal London Intermediary, said the findings showed a link between people taking action against developing illnesses and the instances of these falling, “making a strong case for the nation to start taking some simple steps to lead a healthier lifestyle”.

Heart disease is the least-ignored condition, with 55% of respondents having taken steps to avoid it and only 11% saying they do not know how to do so.

Royal London added deaths caused by disease of the circulatory system in the UK were down 4.1% from 2012 to 2014, according to the British Heart Foundation.

The research also found that as people get older, they are more likely to have taken preventative measures.

Those aged 55 and over are the most likely to have taken steps to reduce their chances of developing them, while people aged 25-34 and 35-44 are the least likely to do so.

Macnair said younger people tend to push health to the back of their mind because they had “other more exciting things to focus on”.

“Younger people especially tend to feel invincible and don't want to dwell on health issues or imagine they might one day develop a chronic illness,” she said.

Source

Exercise Slows Brain Aging By 10 Years

Being more active can be an effective way to combat memory and cognitive problems

by Alice Park

We know that exercise is good for the body and the brain. But actually being physically active, at least on a regular basis, isn’t always easy.

For days when you just don’t want to break a sweat, there’s new motivation in the form of scientific evidence: physical activity can slow brain aging by as much as 10 years, reports a new study published in the journal Neurology.

It’s among the first studies to actually put a number on how beneficial exercise can be for the brain. The researchers asked a group of 1,228 men and women of diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds living in Manhattan about their regular exercise habits. They also answered questions that tested their cognitive abilities, including their memory, organization, reasoning and thinking speed. Five years later, they performed the same tests on about half of the study group.

People who reported doing more physical activity showed higher scores on cognitive tests—consistent with previous studies linking more exercise to better brain health. But when the researchers adjusted for the effect that factors like high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease can have on brain function, the link disappeared. Conditions like these could impair blood flow to the brain and therefore compromise cognitive functions, says Dr. Clinton Wright, associate professor of neurology and public health sciences at University of Miami and senior author of the study. “That suggests that people with low physical activity levels also had a greater burden of those risk factors,” he says.

He and his colleagues then focused just on people in the study who didn’t have these blood flow risk factors, and compared their cognitive scores at the beginning and end of the study. They found similar trends showing that people who exercise more had higher cognitive scores, while those who were less physically active tended to have lower scores. This time, even after accounting for the contribution of possible confounding factors, they found that this trend remained strong in two areas in particular: thinking speed and memory of specific past events.

They also found that people who exercised less showed sharper declines in their cognitive scores than people who were more active. The drops were equivalent to the declines found during normal aging over about 10 years, they concluded.

The data doesn’t prove that exercise can actually reverse or prevent a slowdown in higher level thinking skills. But it does suggest that physical activity may help people with blood flow issues to the brain, such as stroke patients, maintain their cognitive status. Wright is already studying such a group of patients who will wear activity monitors and be randomly assigned to a physical exercise program or not to see whether there is any difference in their test scores over time.

Article source

Five Top Health Benefits of Swimming

Swimming is hailed as a wonder sport, and it’s not difficult to understand why. But perhaps you still need a little persuasion to head to the local pool for a few lengths. After all, with it being so cold outside you’ll be more tempted to add layers – and lots of them – rather than peel them off down to a swimsuit. Ah, but remember that indoor pools are heated – and once you start swimming you’ll quickly warm up. Swimmers also have the advantage of a number of health boosters.

Top five health benefits of swimming

Strength builder: Think about dolphins. I doubt you’ve ever seen a fat dolphin! Now think about top swimmers. Ever seen a weak professional swimmer? That’s because the movement and exercise of swimming improves muscular strength and muscle tone. Health experts also tell us that  swimming increases bone strength, which is epically important for post-menopausal women.

Low on impact: Swimming, unlike most other aerobic sports, gives your body a good workout but without any pounding or impact to your skeletal system. How so? When your body is submerged in water, the body only needs to deal with a small percentage of your actual weight because the water is doing the rest. So if you have stiff muscles and sore joints, swimming is the perfect exercise.

Good for your heart: Research shows that 30 minutes of exercise per day, such as swimming, can reduce significantly reduce your chances of coronary heart disease and also reduce your blood pressure.

Longer life: A study at the University of South Carolina found that people who swam regularly suffer lower death rate. The research found that of the 40,000  men, aged 20 to 90, who were tracked fro 30 years, those who swam had 50% less likelihood of premature death. It’s thought that the same is true for women.

Easy breathing: Asthma sufferers can find it tough to exercise outdoors in winter, or cope with the dry atmosphere of gyms. However, swimming allows you exercise in moist air, which can help to reduce exercise-induced asthma symptoms. Some other studies have also shown that swimming can actually improve the condition overall.

Article source