Although childhood physical fitness seems to reveal some inverse associations with obesity and blood pressure in early adulthood, these effects diminished markedly into middle age. This is found in a long long study from Norway. Follow-up data were collected for 1016 teenagers in 1991, 1999 and 2006. Fiste measurement was in 1981. At baseline, physical fitness was inversely related to BMI, triceps skinfold thickness, and blood pressure. These associations were also present in prospective analyses at ages 15, 25 (except for systolic blood pressure), and 33 years (only BMI measured) – albeit with progressively diminishing magnitude and lost at age 40.
Archive for category Physical Activity
While some emerging technologies can create environments that require very little physical effort, one Kansas State University researcher thinks games like Nintendo’s Wii Fit can help promote physical rather than sedentary activities for people of all ages. “I think there is a great potential to develop ways to promote physical activity through technology,” said David Dzewaltowski. “Kids innately like to move, so I believe that there is a big future in games that use emerging technologies and require movement because the games will be enjoyed by children and also be more healthy than existing games. Future technologies should continue to promote physical activity if they make exercise enjoyable, especially for adults.
Females of all ages are less active than their male peers. Two studies, presented January 6 at a conference in the UK reveal the gender difference in activity levels among school children and the over 70s. Both studies show males to be more physically active than females.
Public health surveillance of physical activity in children in the UK depends on a parent-reported physical activity questionnaire which has not been validated. Now a validation has been made. And the Researchers conclude that the existing questionnaire shouldnot be used. Levels of habitual physical activity in children are likely to be substantially lower than those reported in the UK health surveys.
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2306 children starting school in Augsburg, Germany had their age, sex, weight, and height recorded. Their parents had to answer a questionnaire covering sporting activity, amount of television watched, and eating behavior. 13% suffered from overweight and 5% were obese. This is a marked increase in the prevalence of overweight in children. Almost two thirds of Turkish and Russian speaking children watched one to three hours of television per day about twice as many as Germans. The eating habits of the Turkish children were particularly striking. Only 12.4% had five meals a day the lowest of any group.
Treadmill Desk
Jan 3
TrekDesk is manufacturer of the first affordable full sized, adjustable treadmill desk designed to fit an existing treadmill, allowing walking while working. The company claims that consistent daily walking is very effective in both long term weight loss and also offers significant increases in brain function. A study by the University of Illinois recently showed that memory can be increased by as much as 15% in just 6 months, due to increased blood flow to the brain and that the production of small blood vessels in the brain can be boosted as much as 43%.
This 10-year longitudinal study is from Norway. 630 subjects who responded to questionnaires at age 13 + 7 follow-ups over 10 years. Jogging and cycling, skiing and hiking, and ball games, showed a high degree of tracking from age 15 to 23. The findings indicate low associations between participation in specific types of activities during adolescence and global leisure-time physical activity in young adulthood, while participation in several adolescent physical activities simultaneously was moderately related to later activity. Thus, being involved in various types of physical activity may offer good opportunities for establishing lifelong involvement in physical activity, independent of the specific type of activity.
11 male university students participated in three types of sessions. In one, they ran for 60 minutes on a treadmill. In another, they did 90 minutes of weight lifting. In the third session, they did no exercise. During the treadmill session hormone levels changed and suppressed appetite. Both types of exercise suppressed hunger, but aerobic exercise (treadmill) resulted in greater suppression of hunger. The U.K. researchers say these findings may lead to more effective ways to control weight.
Daily exercise fluctuations and dietary patterns during training predict fat regain in obese women
Jan 3
101 moderately obese Japanese women, 23 to 67 years of age, participated in 0- to 4-month training-education and a follow-up after 12 months. Dietary patterns of food groups during training-education were analyzed. The more rice, pickles, miso, alcohol, and meat the more weight regain. Those with smaller or no weight regain ate more bread, milk and dairy products, fruits, seeds and nuts and mushrooms. The more variation in daily exercise duration during training-education the more weight regain.