LiveLongAgeWell

This article is dedicated to the many people who seem to get enough aerobic exercise, and eat a reasonable diet, but still have problems with excess fat. It will give you something else that might help your situation; something basic and super simple…

Have you observed that as far as general activity level is concerned, people tend to fall into one of two big categories: the people who tend to be “couch potatoes”, and those who are constantly moving? The first group just doesn’t seem to want to move much. They would rather wait for the elevator than take the stairs, even for one floor, and if they are sitting watching TV or at the computer, rather than jumping up and getting something they need from another room, they will call for help or at least just sit and wait until they have more motivation to actually get up and move.

Now the other group, we might call the “movers” or maybe “people who putter”, seem to be constantly moving, almost in a nervous way. But take a look at the body shapes of these two groups, and you might notice a pattern—the movers tend to be a lot trimmer than the people who don’t like to move. It makes a lot of sense, and now we have good scientific evidence that the movers are both thinner and healthier than the sedate group, but the reasons for this are a lot more complex than what you might think.

Studies comparing people in occupations requiring lots of sitting (such as bus drivers) with those who stand much of the day (for example train conductors), have shown a much higher rate of cardiovascular disease and fatal heart attack in those who sit most of the day.  Experimental studies have recently demonstrated that sitting a lot, even a few hours straight, lowers the activity of the enzyme lipoprotein lipase, which normally works to decrease the fat content in your blood. So even a few hours of sitting seems to alter your very fat metabolism.

A study of otherwise healthy men who became incapacitated and confined to bed rest showed that three weeks of bed rest had a bigger negative impact on their physical work capacity than 30 years of aging. Scientists (“inactivity physiologists”) are now more closely studying the physical changes during our “inactive” periods, but while we await more research, it seems clear that people who sit too much during the day face a host of problems, and to cut your risk of obesity, diabetes, and of heart attack, you need to, basically, “get off your butt” and move around more. For some people, even a good program of  regular aerobic exercise, combined with a reasonable diet, may not be enough to keep your weight under control if you sit much of the day.

•    Avoid sitting too long. You are at higher risk of serious metabolic problems if you spend hours watching TV or sitting in front of the computer at work or during your free time. As much as you can, just get up and walk or move around, if only for a minute or two at a time, that’s fine. If you can’t get up, at least shift in your chair regularly, and maybe shake/stretch your arms and legs occasionally. Try to change your mindset so that when you need something from another room, you see that as a good thing, not an irritation.

•    If you like video games, consider as an alternative to the standard (sitting) game something more active like the Nintendo Wii, which will get you up and moving, and allows you to play too. It’s great for both your body and your mind.

•    People who sit for long periods, for example on an airplane, suffer a higher risk of DVT or “deep vein thrombosis” a potentially life-threatening condition in which the blood stagnates in the deep veins in your legs to the point that a clot forms which breaks off and travels through to your lungs. Basic prevention involves getting up and moving around the plane occasionally, and flexing your calf muscles while seated to get the blood moving in your legs. Drinking water also helps to keep your blood from getting too thick and prone to clotting.

Those of you living in the northern latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere may know the winter “blahs” these days, but there is a group of people who have much more severe symptoms during winter, and they have their own diagnosis—SAD, “seasonal affective disorder”. The more north you are, the higher the risk. It’s estimated about 9% of Alaskans suffer from SAD each winter. It’s believed to result from an increase in melatonin and/or a decrease in serotonin (a neurotransmitter commonly adjusted UP by antidepressants).

Triggered by a lack of sunshine and shortened days, SAD people suffer a depression often marked by a combination of fatigue, weight change (typically weight gain), social withdrawal, increased sleep time, loss of concentration and libido, and feelings of hopelessness. It can be so severe that some consider suicide. It’s a serious disorder that demands care, and if you or someone you know might be affected, therapy is usually highly effective.

To help prevent SAD and to treat mild cases, push yourself to get outside each day (in the midday sun if possible), and increase aerobic exercise in the winter months…it may be enough just to take a brisk 30 minute walk outside each day. Avoid areas of your house that are dark. Try to sit and work by the window, keep the blinds up, and the lights on more than usual (bright white fluorescent light bulbs are best). Socializing more each day seems to help.

If your case is more severe or not helped by simple measures, talk to your physician. First line therapy includes (no shock) “light therapy”, but there is a special light that’s recommended, used in a particular way each day for at least 30 minutes, usually in the morning. Tanning bed lights are a bad idea, and you can’t depend on regular fluorescent lights if you have significant SAD; you need the right light. A SAD therapy light may emit from 2500 to 10,000 lux, whereas a typical home light fixture might give off only 100 to 200 lux. Adequate ones costs over $100, but it’s a good investment, and cheaper than other treatments such as antidepressants (ask your doctor about ones that won’t have a sedative side-effect) and psychotherapy. Some people need a combination of these treatments to shake them out of SAD. Many need to start their therapy each fall and continue to late spring.

I admit that right now I’m in Brazil, and it’s about 30 degrees (centigrade, about 86 F.) It’s the middle of summer, and I don’t think anyone here suffers from SAD (unless they have “reverse SAD”, a subject for a later blog.)

So, to my friends and readers up north, I’d recommend—if you can swing it—a trip down here or somewhere south to avoid SAD next year. You might ask your accountant: if you get a doctor’s prescription, could such a trip be tax-deductible? But if you’re ever planning to run for political office, don’t even think about it…

Most people know that being overweight or obese contributes to the risk of heart disease and diabetes, but probably many don’t realize that being obese increases your risk of various cancers also. It’s a topic we will visit in future posts, but today I want to mention a recent study which demonstrates one way normal-weight women benefit from vigorous activity…they markedly cut their breast cancer risk.

It is a startling statistic, but one out of eight women will develop breast cancer during their lifetime (one out of 100 breast cancer cases occur in men), so anything that decreases this risk is welcome. And while the media tends to focus on risk factors we can’t control such as genes and family history, this study from the National Cancer Institute describes one relatively simple action women can take.

Beginning in 1987, the researchers studied over 32,000 post-menopausal women and found that women who engaged in regular vigorous activity or vigorous exercise had about a 30% reduction in the risk of breast cancer. Interestingly, this effect was seen only in slim and normal-weight women; obese women did not show the same good effect from strong exercise (though obese women would cut their risk by losing weight).

The type of activity that led to the decreased cancer risk included heavy housework such as washing windows, scrubbing floors, or digging outside. But don’t fear if you don’t want to do—or don’t have time for—heavy housework, because women who engaged in strenuous sports or vigorous exercise such as running, serious tennis, and fast dancing enjoyed the same benefit. Light housework such as washing clothes, basic gardening, or mild exercise didn’t seem to have the strong protective effect.

So especially if you have a higher-than-average risk of breast cancer, for example due to family history, keep vigorous activity in mind. (For an excellent current reference on breast cancer, check out this pdf from the American Cancer Society.) For Monday: how both men and women can cut their risk of another common and feared affliction, Alzheimer’s disease.

OBESITY AND THE BRAIN: Recent research may give a clue for one reason it is so difficult to lose weight (this study was done in mice, but the researchers felt a similar process occurs in humans): eating a high fat, high sugar diet switched ON a particular gene in the mouse brain. This gene then triggered a generalized increase in the level of inflammation in the mouse’s body, which then caused the mouse to become less responsive to the hormone leptin. In humans, leptin makes us feel full. So if we respond less to leptin, then even if we eat too much, we won’t feel full…and a vicious cycle can result…another reason to avoid a diet with too much fat or sugar.

One goal we should have is to cut the level of inflammation in our bodies. Scientists feel that a state of chronic inflammation can lead to such serious problems as diabetes, atherosclerosis, and even various cancers.

ECONOMIC BAILOUT BILL AND MENTAL HEALTH: With the current level of financial distress in the world, more of us may want to seek out psychological help, but are held back because of the cost, and that our insurance doesn’t cover mental health problems as well as physical problems. But that will change now, at least for employees in plans with over 50 workers. Added to the “bailout” bill just passed is a provision to finally require insurance parity for mental and physical health problems. It is good news that this long battle in Congress has been won, and read here for more details.

GOVERNMENTAL EXERCISE GUIDELINES: If you exercise daily you will probably not only live longer, but have a much higher chance of getting your 90s dancing and without disability. Besides cutting your risk of heart disease and diabetes, daily exercise cuts your risk of various cancers, bone fracture, and depression (some studies point to daily aerobic exercise as possibly as effective as an anti-depressant).

Now the Department of Health and Human Services has come out with new recommendations for the weekly amount of exercise, and the type. They recommend, for adults, a minimum of 2 ½ hours of moderate exercise per week, to include muscle-strengthening exercise at least twice a week (to help keep both your muscles AND bones strong). And, sensibly, these new HHS guidelines stress that you don’t need to go to the gym, but just find some physical activities you like to do, and keep them up, faithfully. The important thing to remember is: keep moving as much as you can!