Important Information Regarding Year End Correspondence Course Grading
FitBits
December 15, 2006
Exercise
ETC's Review of
Exercise Related Research
Compiled by Chris Marino, MS, CSCS
Important Information Regarding Year End Correspondence Course Grading ... Click Here.
New Advice for Back Pain Sufferers… DON’T Sit Up Straight!
Although the best advice for back pain sufferers is to refrain from sitting for too long, it is impractical in today’s society where desk work has become the norm. Consequently, back pain ranks as the number one reason for worker’s compensation claims and days in absentia from work in America. Ergonomic research has made attempts to increase the biomechanical efficiency of the work environment to reduce strain on the body, but has yet to provide an answer for reducing back pain…until recently.
Researchers from Woodend Hospital in Aberdeen, Scotland reported that the upright 90-degree posture we’ve all come to recognize as "ideal" may be the primary cause of low back pain, and speculate that changing the sitting position of office workers may be the only intervention necessary to eliminate this problem.
Using a relatively new imaging device called "positional MRI" researchers were able to quantify strain on the spine, muscles, and soft tissues in the lower back during various sitting positions. Twenty-two healthy volunteers with no history of back pain or surgery participated in the study. Participants were assessed in three sitting positions: 1. slouching, or hunched forward, 2. an upright 90-degree sitting position, and 3. a "relaxed" position reclining backward 135 degrees with the feet on the floor. The findings were reported at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America in Chicago.
Although, as might be expected, the slouching position was reported to create the greatest strain on the lower back of the three sitting positions, the researchers found that the reclined 135-degree sitting position was more ideal and showed less strain on the spine, muscles and tendons compared to the 90-degree sitting position.
Interestingly, spinal disc movement was most significant in the 90-degree upright sitting posture. The authors highlighted that this position causes the greatest strain against gravity and it may be interpreted to cause increased risk of disc bulges or herniations as well as enhance the rate of degenerative disease.
The researchers recommend that office workers who are bound to a desk for most of the day find a chair that allows them to sit at a 135-degree angle. It remains advisable to continue abiding by the “5-minute rule” in which sitting position should be adjusted every 5 minutes. Office workers should be encouraged to get up and move around every 15 minutes or so.
Megan Rauscher. Aching Back? Sitting Up Straight May Be Why. Reuters Health. Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Forget
the Crossword Puzzles
& Get Active!
For many years brain researchers have encouraged the use of mental training tasks to improve memory and intellect. There was, however, little research to back up that recommendation. Now, researchers have found strong evidence that aerobic exercise can stop the age-associated decline in brain volume, and even reverse it, leading to improved memory and cognition.
Researchers at the University of Illinois, Urbana reported that 12-weeks of aerobic exercise for three hours a week significantly increased brain volume in older adults.
Fifty-nine adults between age 60 and 79 were assigned to an aerobics, non-aerobic stretching and toning, or no intervention group. The aerobic group walked around a gym at just over three miles an hour. Pre- and post-intervention brain volumes were measured using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI).
No changes were apparent in the stretch and toning or the “couch potato” groups. Substantial increases were found in the aerobics group. Most significant improvements occurred in areas of high-order thinking such as attention and memory (frontal lobe) and in the corpus callosum, which connects the right brain and the left. Deterioration in the corpus callosum is thought to be responsible for slower thinking and an inability to effectively multitask in older age.
Scientists have only understood the brain’s capacity for growing new neurons for than a decade. This study is the first to discover that older brains can produce new neurons. An increase in brain volume is linked to improvements in thinking, remembering, cognitive flexibility, and perseveration.
The researchers speculate that IGF-1 (insulin-life growth factor) is responsible for these changes. IGF-1 doesn’t cross the blood-brain barrier under normal resting conditions; however during exercise it does, thus increasing blood flow in the brain. IGF-1 actually facilitates the morphology of neural stem cells into actual neurons and other functional brain cells.
Based on this current study, scientists cannot make any associations with brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s as all participants were healthy, older adults. Future research may focus on diseased brains and manipulating intensity and volumes to determine the best recommendation across populations. It is also unclear whether younger people’s brains experience the same benefit.
Begley, Sharon. (2006) How to Keep Your Aging Brain Fit: Aerobics. The Wall Street Journal. Thursday, November 16.
The
Obesity Epidemic is
Responsible for Emerging
Hybrid-Type Diabetes
Current statistics estimate that 20.8 million Americans have diabetes. Although efforts to educate the public about diabetes have increased exponentially in the past decade, 6.2 million people are suspected of having the disease and not knowing it. Another 41 million people are categorized as pre-diabetic because of higher-than normal blood glucose levels.
It’s acknowledged that the underlying factor in the development of type 2 diabetes is overweight or obesity. What is disturbing physicians now is that upon evaluation, patients are appearing to suffer from both Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes. Doctors are referring to this phenomenon as "double diabetes" or "hybrid diabetes."
The trend emerging is an increased prevalence of overweight and obesity among Type 1 Diabetics where the individual, whose pancreas no longer produces insulin, becomes insulin resistant and hypertensive.
Current research is suggesting an alarming rate of 30 percent of newly diagnosed diabetes cases among children involve youngsters with both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Physicians also speculate that Type 1 Diabetics who currently take insulin but fail to make lifestyle changes (including exercise) become vulnerable to weight gain as a result of effective treatment.
Having both type 1 and type 2 diabetes significantly complicates treatment efforts. The essential treatment for type 1 diabetes is insulin injections to control blood glucose levels, whereas the typical intervention for type 2 diabetes includes diet, exercise and medication to help reduce insulin resistance.
Diabetes experts agree that the best way to battle the condition is to increase efforts at prevention. A study by the federal Diabetes Prevention Program study found that diet and exercise of moderate intensity and duration, coupled with a 5-10% reduction in body weight, reduced diabetes onset by almost 60%. Unfortunately, these same experts are forecasting that the incidence of the disease will parallel that of the current obesity epidemic.
HealthDay. (2006) 'Double Diabetes' a New Threat: The obesity epidemic is leading more people to develop type 1 and type 2 disease. December 3.
Increased Prevalence of PCOS Seen Among Overweight and Obese Women
Despite the association of Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) with being overweight and obese, the quantitative prevalence or risk for women was previously unknown. In a study published in the October issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, researchers in Spain documented a five-fold increase in the prevalence of PCOS for overweight and obese women. One-hundred thirteen women seeking dietary treatment for obesity and overweight were evaluated for PCOS. 28.3% were diagnosed with the disorder. A comparison group of lean women showed a prevalence of 5.5%.
PCOS is a female disorder that occurs as a result of overproducing androgen hormones. Excess androgens interfere with follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) in the production of progesterone causing the follicles to turn into small pea-sized cysts on the ovaries. In the past, PCOS was predominantly seen as a fertility disorder, however the effects of PCOS on hormones make it the most common endocrine disorder affecting women of childbearing age in America today. It is estimated that 6 percent of pre-menopausal females in America are afflicted with this disorder.
Increased awareness of this condition is essential because of increased risk of heart disease and diabetes at an early age (under 30), thus increasing the risks of exercise if the condition is undiagnosed. In fact, the risk of cardiovascular disease in women with PCOS in their mid-thirties and younger is 11 times that of women without PCOS. Women with PCOS also have higher risks of female-specific cancers, thus increasing the health benefits of regular exercise. This disease may decrease the effectiveness of traditional weight loss programs because of increased insulin resistance and other hormonal factors.
Symptoms of PCOS include: significant and often rapid weight gain without change in food consumption, excess facial and body hair, scalp hair loss, bad acne, irregular mentrual cycles or ammenorhea, psychological problems such as anxiety or depression, sleeplessness, and difficulty getting pregnant. Unfortunately, PCOS often goes undiagnosed because previously physicians rarely evaluated for the condition unless women were having fertility issues. According to the authors of this study, the health consequences of this disease make it advisable for physicians to conduct diagnostic evaluation for PCOS with routine visits.
Álvarez-Blasco,
F., et al (2006) Prevalence and Characteristics of the Polycystic Ovary
Syndrome in Overweight and Obese Women. Archives of Internal Medicine.
166: 2081-2086.
M. Rosenthal. (1998) Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. WebMD.
Important
Information Regarding Year End Correspondence Course Grading
Correspondence course tests for priority grading services must be received in our office no later than noon EST on Wednesday, December 27 for 2006 correction. Correspondence course tests received after that date and time will not be graded until January 2, 2007 and the CE certificate will reflect that date.
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