SportsGeezer

Exercise Makes You Smarter: The Body/MInd Connection

Wow! This piece in the Scientific American is long. Fortunately, readers who are physically and cognitively fit should have little trouble staying awake while reading it. Wait. Did Geezer say "physically and cognitively fit"? Why the distinction? If the research cited in this piece is right, those who are physically fit are significantly more likely to be cognitively fit. Here's one example:
"In a study published in 2001, neuropsychiatrist Kristine Yaffe of the University of California, San Francisco, and her colleagues recruited 5,925 women older than 65 at four different medical centers across the U.S. The participants were all free of any physical disability that would limit their ability to walk or pursue other physical activities. The volunteers were also screened to ensure that they did not have a cognitive impairment. The researchers then assessed their physical activity by asking the women how many city blocks they walked and how many flights of stairs they climbed daily and gave them a questionnaire to fill out about their levels of participation in 33 different physical activities. After six to eight years, the researchers assessed the women’s level of cognitive function. The most active women had a 30 percent lower risk of cognitive decline."
Yes, there's more. Read it here in the Scientific American.

Survey Finds Weekly Sex is Women's Ideal, Not Reality

The good news is that three quarters (76 percent) of all women believe that having a healthy sex life means enjoying sex at least once a week. The bad news is that only half (54 percent) of all women have hit that number in the most recent four weeks, according to a recent study commissioned by the National Women's Health Resource Center (NWHRC) and the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals (ARHP).  A press release from the National Women's Health Resource Center reports on those interesting numbers and more, such as the fact that 70 percent of women report having experienced a sexual health issue, and 22 percent of those women felt very or extremely concerned. The survey defined "sexual health issue" as any of the following six conditions: a lack of desire to engage in sexual activity, not being able to become sexually aroused, not being able to have an orgasm, pain during intercourse, excessive desire to engage in sexual activity, or vaginal dryness. The write up reports that respondents who experienced sexual health issues reported negative impacts on their romantic relationships (44 percent), self-esteem (43 percent), and mental health (42 percent). The women also found that sexual health issues caused stress and anxiety (66 percent), and affected their sleeping habits (28 percent) and their weight (25 percent). What's the finding that should most concern the women's partners? How about this: When women need information about sexual health issues, they first turn to the Internet (35 percent) and next to their partner (32 percent).

Read more from the National Women's Health Resource Center.

Relieve Stress at Your Desk With Hand Yoga

It doesn't matter what your co-workers think: If a goofy looking exercise lowers your stress level, it's got to trump a few quizzical glances. After all, how goofy can it get? Have a look:

The website Rejuvenation Lounge recommends this simple hand exercise to relieve workplace stress.

Curl the index finger into the base of the thumb. Now bring the tips of your middle and ring fingers to the top of your thumb. The tips of your thumb ring and index fingers are all touching. Your little finger is stretched out flat.  Bring your elbows close to the side of your waist. Close your eyes, focus on soft breathing into your belly and relax.

Not very goofy? Wait, there's more, and it comes from Geezer's favorite L.A. Times exercise guru, Karen Voight. 

Sitting in your chair, back away from your desk and bend your arms to a 90-degree angle, bringing your elbows close to your waist. With forearms parallel to the ground, tuck your fingers in and squeeze each of your hands as tight as possible. Hold for 5 seconds.
Open your hands as wide as possible, spreading your fingers apart. Flex your wrists by moving your fingers up and back, simultaneously pushing your wrists forward. Hold for 5 seconds, trying to keep your hands fully stretched. Repeat this move three times.

Green Tea May Slow Prostate Cancer

Not quite in time for Father's Day, Geezer passes along this Reuters report on research conducted at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in Shreveport, whose results suggest that active compounds in green tea may slow the progression of prostate cancer. Researchers worked with 26 prostate cancer patients, aged from 41 to 68, giving each patient four capsules of epigallocatechin gallate, a green tea extract that has antioxidant properties, every day for about a month before they had their prostates removed. The capsules were equal to drinking 12 cups of green tea.  Reuters reports that levels of three proteins associated with the growth of prostate cancer declined: Hepatocyte growth factor or HGF fell 18.9 percent on average, vascular endothelial growth factor or VEGF fell by 9.9 percent and prostate specific antigen PSA fell by 10.4 percent.
Read an abstract of the study in the journal Cancer Prevention Research.
Read more from Reuters.

Consumer Group Calls Bayer on Prostate Cancer Vitamin Claims

Bayer AG, the pharmaceutical giant that eight years ago agreed to pay $14 million to settle allegations that it encouraged health care providers to submit fraudulently inflated reimbursement claims, now stands accused of fraudulently inflating something else: assertions that its One A Day Men’s 50+ Advantage and Men’s One A Day Men’s Health Formula multivitamins, both of which contain selenium, reduce the risk of prostate cancer.
WebMD reports that the Center for Science in the Public Interest has complained to the FTC and has threatened to sue Bayer because the claims are not supported by major scientific studies. Web MD tells us that some early studies did suggest that selenium, an antioxidant, could have some protective effect against cancer, but a seven-year, $118 million government-sponsored trial published in January concluded that selenium did not prevent prostate cancer in a population of healthy men.
"Bayer is exploiting men's fear of prostate cancer just to sell more pills," said CSPI senior nutritionist David Schardt in a CSPI press release. "The largest prostate cancer prevention trial has found that selenium is no more effective than a placebo. Bayer is ripping people off when it suggests otherwise in these dishonest ads." CSPI says the prostate cancer claims for One A Day supplements violate a consent decree the company signed with the FTC in 2007. That year Bayer paid a $3.2 million fine related to weight-loss claims made on behalf of One A Day multivitamin WeightSmart, and agreed not to make unsubstantiated claims in the future. Unfortunately for Bayer, the unsubstantiated claim habit appears to be in deep. Very deep. According to Wikipedia, a 1934 history of the German company gives credit for the development of the first aspirin formula that did not upset the stomach to the German chemist Felix Hoffman, who was not Jewish, rather than to Arthur Eichengrun, the German-Jewish scientist who actually did the work. Read more about the prostate cancer complaint from the Center for Science for the Public Interest.

The Prostate Cancer Food List: What Helps, What Hurts

While there is little agreement among medical experts about when and how to treat prostate cancer, more researchers are coming around to the notion that diet may keep the cancer at bay. The most recent evidence comes from a study conducted at the University of New South Wales, where scientists did a evidence-based review of journal-reported dietary recommendations for the prevention and treatment of prostate cancer.
What helps? What hurts? The results, published in the Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics,suggest the following:
Tomato and lycopene      decreases risk
Selenium                       decreases risk
Cruciferous vegetables    decreases risk
Soy/soflavones               decreases risk
Meat                              increases risk
Calcium                         increases risk
Dairy                              increases risk
Fat                                 increases risk

Read more about the study in Science Daily.

Researchers Say Exercise High Is Good for 12 Hours

Yes, Virginia, runner's high is for real, and yes I said yes I will yes, the afterglow of exercise can last much longer than some other widely advertised afterglows. HealthDay reports that researchers at the University of Vermont have found that the lovely mood improvement that often follows on the heels of exercise can last up to 12 hours. That finding, presented last week at the annual meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine in Seattle, stemmed from research that randomly assigned 48 men and women to a control group that did not exercise, or to a group that did. HealthDay reports that at the start of the study, all participants completed a standard survey of mood, and that the survey was repeated at one, two, four, eight, 12 and 24 hours after the exercisers then rode on a stationary bike for 20 minutes at moderate intensity. The researchers found that the mood of the exercisers was better than that of the sedentary group immediately after the workout, and also  up to 12 hours later. Wait, there's more: exerciser's high is an equal opportunity perk: Men and women seemed to benefit equally, and the fitness level of the participant didn't seem to matter.
Read more from HealthDay.

FDA Says Public Still Unaware of Tylenol Risks

Did someone say the FDA appears to be waking up from a long winter's nap? Yes. Someone did, and now that the casual years are over, the agency has some questions about the safety of acetaminophen, the painkiller sold over the counter as Tylenol. US News & World Report reports that advisers to the federal agency will meet next month to review an agency report calling for stronger warnings, better consumer education, and limits on doses for acetaminophen. What's the problem? The journal reports that part of the problem is too many and too much, meaning that too many people take too much acetaminophen, largely because they are unaware of acetaminophen's potential to cause liver damage, and also because they don't realize how many over-the-counter products, such remedies for colds, headaches and fevers, are loaded with the drug.
US News tells us that an FDA report released this week calls for limiting the maximum adult daily dose to no more than 3,250 milligrams, and further decreasing the daily maximum for patients consuming three or more alcoholic drinks a day. Is that a problem?  It also recommends limiting the tablet strength for immediate-release formulations to a maximum of 325 milligrams, and the single adult dose to a maximum of 650 milligrams. Yes, it all hurts.
Read more about Tylenol, alcohol, and liver problems here.
Read more in US News & World Report.

Study: Cutting Carbs Slows Prostate Cancer

No, the study did not involve humans. But the prostate cancer-afflicted mice whose carbohydrate intake was restricted by researchers at Duke University's Prostate Center lived 50 percent longer than their carbohydrate happy counterparts. Now researchers just have to figure out why.
A DukeHealth.org press release reports that researchers fed mice who had been injected with prostate cancer tumors one of three diets: a very high fat/ no carbohydrate diet; a low-fat/ high carbohydrate diet; and a high fat/ moderate-carbohydrate diet, similar to the "Western" diet most Americans eat. The researchers found that the mice fed a no-carbohydrate diet had a 40 to 50 percent prolonged survival over the other mice. And for those humans who are reading this, Duke reports that the researchers plan to begin recruiting patients at two sites -- Duke and the University of California, Los Angeles -- for a clinical trial to determine if restricting carbohydrate intake in patients with prostate cancer can similarly slow tumor growth. The trial should begin within a few weeks.
Read more about carbo-cuts and prostate cancer from DukeHealth.org.

Washington D.C. Beats Minneapolis for Fittest City. Denver, Boston, and San Francisco Follow.

Each year, the American Fitness Index, a nifty PR effort conceived by Wellpoint and glomming conveniently on to the authority of the American College of Sports Medicine, gets a little more fit, or at least more robust. This year's website offers neatly packaged health profiles (strengths/advantages and opportunities/challenges) of all 45 cities rated. Rated how, exactly? Too many ways to make much sense, in this humble reader's opinion. The index measures each city's performance on 30 indicators, including acres of parkland, death rate from cardiovascular disease, the number of primary care physicians per capita and the percent of residents who bicycle or walk to work. Readers who are short on patience can skip the flash-encumbered map and go straight to the envelope please, where they will find a list of winners.
Whatev. The top five fittest cities are: Washington D.C., Minneapolis, Denver, Boston, and San Francisco.
Losers are Salt Lake City, Rochester, Richmond, Providence and Orlando.

Get the big picture here.