Alzheimer's Risk Reduced by Exercise; Affects Gene Expression and Growth
Hormone: Regular exercise controls the expression
of genes in an area of the brain important for memory and maintaining healthy
cells in the brain; this maintenance breaks down in cases of Alzheimer's. There
is a connection between the genes that control growth hormones and other
important molecules and the genes' ability to be stimulated by exercise. After
three weeks of running on their cage wheels, rats had changed the expression, or
activity, of genes in an area of the brain called the hippocampus, a structure
usually associated with higher cognitive functions like memory, thinking and
learning. 6/02 Trends in Neurosciences. UC Irvine Carl Cotman. Genes
affected include that for BDNF, short for brain-derived neurotrophic factor,
which helps amplify nerve signals important in maintaining a healthy nervous
system; IGF-1, part of the immune system that helps in the growth of new nerve
cells and aids in protection of cells from injury; running increases the growth
factor levels in rat brains and improves the rats' learning ability in mazes. Ed: Exercising affects the hippocampus. It is this part of the brain that
is damaged by depression. While anti-depressant medication has been shown to
protect this part of the brain, exercise very likely does the same thing.
Alzheimer's Patients Helped by Exercise: Linda
Teri, University of Washington, studied a home-based exercise program for
patients with Alzheimer's disease combined with teaching caregivers how to
manage behavioral problems involving 153 community-dwelling patients randomized
to a three-month combined 30 min/d exercise and caregiver training program or
routine medical care. Exercise patients were 3 times more likely to exercise and
had improved scores for physical role functioning. Two years later, exercise
patients continued to have better physical role functioning and a trend toward
less institutionalization due to behavioral disturbance. They had improved
Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia scores (P = .02) at three
months. Those exercise patients with higher depression scores at baseline,
improved significantly more at three months on the Hamilton Depression Rating
Scale (P = .04), and they had maintained that improvement two years later
(P = .04). JAMA. 2003;290:2015-2022
Anxiety Lower After Exercising: A Univ.
Missouri-Columbia study of females exercising found that 30-90 minutes after
exercising for 33 minutes, almost all had reduced levels of anxiety with the
greatest affect in those exercising the most. Richard Cox, M&F Hers 1/04. Ed: This cute report doesn't prove exercising helps anxiety. However,
multiple studies reviewed below shows in helps depression, so I would be willing
to bet a well-designed study would show that it also helps anxiety disorders.
Arthritis: Exercise OK for Arthritis Sufferers: Dutch 300
people with rheumatoid arthritis for two years. Half in a one-hour exercise
regimen twice weekly; the rest received traditional treatment, including
physical therapy. Arthritis & Rheumatism, 9/03 Thea P.M. Vliet Vlieland
of Leiden University. Prolonged, rigorous exercise had no significant
detrimental effect on weight-bearing joints, except in cases of patients who
already had considerable large joint damage. Exercising patients did better
emotionally and physically, although there was no difference in arthritis pain
or number of pain meds taken.
CRP, Fibrinogen, WBC Lowered by Exercise; Raises Albumin: 13,700 in NHANES III Survey showed markedly lower risk for elevated CRP, a risk
factor for heart disease, in individuals engaging in vigorous exercise (OR
0.53). There is mounting evidence that physical activity may reduce
inflammation, which is a critical process in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular
disease. Epidemiology 2002 Sep;13(5):561-8. Fibrinogen was directly
related to age, body mass index (BMI) and female gender and inversely to alcohol
and moderate-heavy physical activity practice. Eur J Epidemiol 2001;17(10):953-8
Caffeine Lowers Exercise Induced Thigh Pain: 8/03 J Pain,
Robert Motl, UI Kinesiology, caffeine reduced thigh muscle pain during cycling
exercise. 16 nonsmoking young adult men, cycled for 30 minutes on two separate
days. Exercise was purposefully set to make the riders' thigh muscles hurt. A
caffeine pill or a placebo pill was given one hour before the exercise. The
riders reported feeling substantially less pain in their thigh muscles after
taking caffeine compared to after taking the placebo. Caffeine seemed to work
less well for heavy caffeine users
Cancer Reduced Dramatically in Men by Exercise: The most-fit men had
a 46% lower risk, and moderately fit men had a 34% lower risk of cancers
unrelated to smoking. These diseases include cancers of the colon and prostate,
and leukemia, which affects white blood cells. The study followed 25,000 men
30-87 for 10 years and recorded 335 cancer deaths. Medicine and Science in
Sports and Exercise 5/02; Britain's Royal Free and University College
Medical School followed 7,588 men ages 40-59 for an average of almost 19 years.
The British scientists found a reduced risk of all cancer only with moderately
vigorous or vigorous activity. Brit J Cancer 11/01
Cancer Breast: Exercise Cuts Risk: 1,237 breast CA patients
average age of 56 were compared to 1,241 controls in Alberta. Researchers found
an relative risk (RR) of 0.58 for breast cancer for those in the upper quartile
vs. lowest in physical activity throughout life with the greatest benefit for
exercise after menopause. Epid 11/01 12:604-12.
Cancer of Breast Reduced by Exercising: 74,171 women ages 50-79
with a 4.7 year follow-up found an 18% decrease in breast cancer among those
exercising 1.25-2.5 hours/week and reduced 14% in those engaging in moderate
exercise at age 35. Recreational physical activity and the risk of breast cancer
in postmenopausal women: the Women's Health Initiative Cohort Study. McTiernan
A, Kooperberg C, White E, Wilcox S, Coates R, Adams-Campbell LL, Woods N, Ockene
J; Women's Health Initiative Cohort Study. JAMA. 2003 Sep
10;290(10):1331-6
Cancer: Breast: Exercise Lowers the Risk: Leslie Bernstein,
University of Southern California compared the self-reported exercise habits of
567 women with breast cancer in situ (not yet spreading) with that of 616 women
who did not have the disease at all. The risk of cancer was roughly 35% lower
among women who reported any regular exercise activity during their lifetimes
compared with physically inactive women. This level of reduced risk remained
fairly constant with increasing levels of activity. Unfortunately, no reduction
in risk was observed among women with a first-degree relative with the disease. Cancer 11/15/03
Depression in College Assoc with Less Midlife Exercise: Lower
depression, social introversion, and psychopathic deviance scores on testing
were found in in a study of 4,500 college students to be associated with an
increased probability of exercising in midlife for both men and women. Womens
Health 1997 Spring;3(1):61-70
Depression: Aerobic vs. Non-Aerobic Exercise No Diff: 99 patients
were randomly assigned to aerobic or non-aerobic exercise. Both groups had
similar decreases in depression. Compr Psychiatry 1989
Jul-Aug;30(4):324-31
Depression: Treadmill 10 Day Good: 10 patients with a major
depressive episode exercised on a treatmill 30 min a day for 10 days. HAM-D
depression scores decreased from 19.5 to 13, p=.002. Br J Sports Med 2001
Apr;35(2):114-7. Isokinetic muscle performance is worse in Major Depressive
Disorder patients than in healthy controls. Int J Neurosci 2001
Aug;109(3-4):149-64, Turkey.
Depression: Exercise Better than Sertraline: Psychosom Med 2000 Sep-Oct;62(5):633-8. Random assignment of 156 Major Depressive Disorder
adults over 50 to exercise, sertraline or both found that after 4 months, all
groups improved equally, although the medicine patients improved faster.
However, the exercise group was doing best at 10 months follow-up, especially
for those still exercising on their own, R=.49. Babyak, Duke University.
Depression: Exercise May Help Inpatients: After six
weeks, participants showed significant decreases in their levels of reported
depression, and nonsignificant trends toward a decrease in anxiety and an
increase in their sense of accomplishment. The program did not ameliorate many
disturbing feelings such as anger and fear, nor did it elicit a wide range of
positive affects such as cooperation and feelings of acceptance. Hosp
Community Psychiatry 1982 Aug;33(8):641-5
Depression: Exercise Helps Elderly Depressed- Two Studies: In a
study of randomised exercise classes or health education talks for 10 weeks,
assessments were made "blind" at baseline, and at 10 and 34 weeks. Hamilton
Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD), Geriatric Depression Scale, Clinical Global
Impression and Patient Global Impression at 10 weeks found a significantly
higher proportion of the exercise group (55% v. 33%) experienced a greater than
30% decline in depression according to HRSD, OR=2.51, P=0.05. Univ. of Dundee,
Mather, Br J Psychiatry 2002 May;180:411-5; A Harvard study with
randomization of 32 elderly depressed 70 or older found BDI depression scores
were significantly reduced at both 20 weeks and 26 months of follow-up in
exercisers compared with controls (p <.05-.001). At the 26-month follow-up, 33%
of the exercisers were still regularly weight lifting, versus 0% of controls (p
<.05). NA Singh, J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci 2001 Aug;56(8):M497-504;
Another study suggests that increased cerebral blood flow may be a beneficial
factor, although this was only a hypothesis.
Depression: Aerobic But Not Resistance Exercise Helps Elderly
Depression: 439 persons aged 60 or older with knee osteoarthritis were
randomized to health education (control), resistance exercise, or aerobic
exercise. Depressive symptoms and physical function (disability, walking speed,
and pain) were measured at baseline and 3, 9, and 18 months. Aerobic exercise
significantly lowered depressive symptoms over time. No such effect was observed
for resistance exercise. The reduction in depressive symptoms with aerobic
exercise occurred in both among the 98 participants with initially high
depressive symptomatology and 340 participants initially low depressive
symptomatology; it was strongest for the most compliant persons, i.e., those who
did the most exercising. Aerobic and resistance exercise significantly reduced
disability and pain and increased walking speed both, and to an equal extent, in
persons with high depressive symptomatology and persons with low depressive
symptomatology. Wake Forest U, J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 2002
Mar;57(2):P124-32
Depression: Exercise-Vitamins-Light Helps Depressed Women: 112
women ages 18-79 with mild to moderate depression but without meds were
randomized to treatment with exercise, vitamins, and light therapy or placebo.
Those in the treatment group were found to benefit after 8 weeks on each of five
tests of depression. MA Brown, U Wash Seattle, Women Health 2001;34(3):93-112. Ed: This is a less than ideal research study because
it combines three useful elements into one treatment without studying the
contribution of each element. However, I very much like this combined treatment
as the right thing to do before starting medication since it will help most
people as much or more than medication, benefit the rest of the body as well,
save money, and have few or no side-effects.
Depression: Exercise Helps Depression and Physical in Fibromyalgia: significant improvements were seen for EX subjects in 6-minute walk
distances, BDI (total, cognitive/affective), STAI, FIQ, ASES, and MHI (3 of 5
subscales) scores. These effects were reduced but remained during
intent-to-treat analyses. CONCLUSION: Exercise can improve the mood and physical
function of individuals with fibromyalgia. Toronto General, Arthritis Rheum 2001 Dec;45(6):519-29
Depression: Exercise Increase Phenylethylamine, an Anti-Depressant: April 2001, the UK government recommended that doctors consider prescribing
exercise sessions as an alternative to drug treatment for patients with mild
depression. Ellen Billet of Nottingham Trent University. Phenylethylamine
earlier study found that 60 to 70 per cent of people with depression had lower
than normal levels. It has also been used as a drug, and has been effective at
treating some patients with depression. 20 young men who did around four hours
of moderate to hard exercise every week stopped exercise completely for 24
hours, The following day, the men exercised on a treadmill. Urine phenylacetic
acid, a breakdown product, increased by an average of 77 per cent in the 24
hours after exercise, compared with the previous day, varying from 14 per cent
to 572 per cent. British Journal of Sports Medicine (vol 35, p 342)
8/28/03
Diabetes Reduced Even in Obese: 1,728 non-diabetic men and women aged
15-59 years who were at least half Pima Indians, a tribe which has a very high
rates of diabetes, were studied.Exercise and activity
questionnaires and oral glucose tolerance tests were used. After six years, 346
participants developed type 2 diabetes. Regardless of initial age or body
weight, fewer individuals who were more active (defined as a minimum of 30
minutes of moderate physical activity per day) over this time period developed
type 2 diabetes. 10/03 Am J Epid.
Diabetes 58% Reduced by Exercise & Diet: 3,234 overweight patients
with unstable blood sugars were randomly assigned: one-third had regular diet
and exercise counseling with cooking and gym classes, one-third took metformin,
and one-third were controls. The lifestyle-change group lost 15 pounds over 3
years. Each year, the average percentage developing diabetes was 11% for
controls, 7.8% for metformin, and 4.8% for lifestyle counseling. NIH. Robert
Ratner, MedStar Research Institute, DC. Sci News 9/8/01
Diabetes: Exercise Valuable: Meta-analysis of 235 studies in JAMA 10/2/02 says exercise improves blood sugar, lowers blood pressure,
causes a loss of fat and abdominal fat, and improves left ventricular heart
function and endothelial functioning. Authors recommend at least three times a
week aerobics for 45 minutes (walking, etc.) and twice a week weights using
light with frequent repetitions of 8-10 exercises of at least one set each.
Johns Hopkins Med School.
Elderly Brain: Exercise Protects: A Univ. of Illinois,
Champaign, study of 55 adults over 55 years old with MRIs of their brains showed
that exercise helped prevent atrophy in 3 key brain areas. Frontal, temporal and
parietal cortexes gray and white matter were affected. Older adults show a real
decline in brain density in white and gray areas, but fitness actually slows
that decline. Most other potential negative attributes -- smoking, diabetes,
drinking, dieting, etc. -- were factored out of the data equation. Arthur
Kramer, 2/03 J Gerontology. A Meta-analysis in 3/03 Psychological
Science, also by Kramer, suggests that older women, especially those on
hormone-replacement therapy, benefit more cognitively than do men from increased
physical activity as they age.
Elderly Brain Helped by Walking: In 1999, Arthur Kramer found
that previously sedentary people over age 60 who walked rapidly for 45 minutes
three days a week can significantly improve mental-processing abilities that
decline with age, and particularly tasks that rely heavily on the frontal lobes
of the brain. Nature.
Exercise Testing of Asymptomatic Women Predicts Cardiac Risk. In a
20-year follow-up study in the Sept. 24, 2003 issue of JAMA, exercise
testing was more predictive of heart disease in women than in men, with the same
finding reported in a different study in the Sept. 30, 2003, issue of Circulation. Women, ages 30-80, without known cardiovascular disease were
followed for 20 years. 427 women (14%) died from any cause, including 147 (34%)
from cardiovascular deaths. Women with high levels of exercise capacity and high
Heart Rate Recovery (HRR) had lower all-cause and cardiovascular mortality, were
younger, reported more regular exercise, and had more favorable clinical and
exercise test profiles. Risk factors for cardiovascular death included failure
to achieve target heart rate and ventricular arrhythmia, but not
exercise-induced ST-segment depression. After adjusting for cardiovascular risk
factors, women who were below the median on both exercise capacity and HRR had a
3.5-fold increased risk of cardiovascular death, vs. women who were above the
median for both variables. In women with low-risk Framingham scores, those below
the median for both exercise capacity and HRR had a much higher risk of
cardiovascular death compared with women above the median for both variables
(hazard ratio, 12.93). JAMA. 9/24/2003;290:1600-1607. Heart rate recovery
(HRR) is defined as the peak heart rate from exercising minus heart rate at 2
minutes after exercising, based on an exercise stress test performance. The
study median for exercise capacity was 7.5 METs, while the median for HRR was 55
beats/minute. For every 10 beats/minute decrease in HRR, the age-adjusted hazard
ratio for heart disease was 1.36.
Heart Disease: Sudden Death Cut 85% in Doctors Exercising Five Times per
Week: A 12-year study of thousands of male health professionals showed
that men who exercised at least five times a week had a much lower risk of
sudden death -- about sevenfold less -- than those who only exercised once a
week. Christine M. Albert, Brigham and Women's Hospital. 11/9/2000 CNN
Heart Disease: Exercise has Huge Beneficial Effect: Coronary
Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study of 5,115 aged 18 to 30
years with 15 year follow-up. Compared with subjects at or above the 60th
percentile on the exercise treadmill test, subjects below the 20th percentile
were three- to six-fold more likely to develop diabetes, hypertension, and
metabolic syndrome, after adjustment for age, race, sex, smoking, and family
history of diabetes, hypertension, or premature myocardial infarction (P < .001 for all). Adjusting for baseline body mass (BMI) index reduced these
risks to two-fold (P < .001). JAMA. 2003;290:3092-3100; Improved
fitness over 7 years was associated with reduced risk of developing diabetes
(HR, 0.4; 95% CI, 0.2 - 1.0; P = .04) and metabolic syndrome (HR, 0.5;
95% CI, 0.3 - 0.7; P < .001), as well as a loss of weight.
Heart Disease Deaths Linked to Exercise, Not Fewer Calories: During 17 years of follow-up of 9790 adults in the first NHAHES, 1,531
participants died of heart disease. After adjusting for BMI and physical
activity, caloric intake was unrelated to heart disease. Those who exercised
more and ate more were both leaner and had less than half the cardiovascular
disease mortality than did those who exercised less, ate less and were
overweight. The difference in mortality was 55%. Jing Fang, Albert Einstein, Am J Preventive Med 11/6/03
Heart Disease: Vigorous Exercise Best, Weights Second Best: A Harvard
study of 44,000 male health professionals with a 12 year follow-up found 23%
decrease in heart disease with weight lifting 30 min or more per week, 18%
decrease with walking-type exercise and a 42% decrease with running-type at
least one hour per week. The authors speculate that weights and vigorous running
might be the best when combined but had no data on this. JAMA 10/23/02.
Heart: Lack of Exercise Capacity and Poor Heart Rate Recovery Markedly
Increases Risk of Heart Death: A 20 year follow-up study of 3000 women
30-80yo found Among women with low risk Framingham scores, those with below
median levels of both exercise capacity and HRR had significantly increased risk
compared with women who had above median levels of these 2 exercise variables,
44.5 and 3.5 cardiovascular deaths per 10 000 person-years, respectively (hazard
ratio for cardiovascular death, 12.93; 95% CI, 5.62-29.73; P<.001). Ability of
exercise testing to predict cardiovascular and all-cause death in asymptomatic
women: a 20-year follow-up of the lipid research clinics prevalence study. Mora
S, Redberg RF, Cui Y, Whiteman MK, Flaws JA, Sharrett AR, Blumenthal RS. JAMA. 2003 Sep 24;290(12):1600-7
Heart Attacks: Avoiding Salt, Adding Exercise Cuts Risk: An
Australian study found relative risk of heart attack (RR) for those doing
non-vigorous exercise regularly was 0.5 (half the level of those not doing
exercise regularly) and for avoiding added salt 0.6 in a case-control study of
336 acute heart attack patients and 735 controls. Int J Epidemiol 1999
Oct;28(5):846-52
Heart Failure is Helped: A meta-analysis of nine studies
averaging 2 years in duration and covering a total of 810 patients with left
ventricular dysfunction and clinical heart failure found that those randomized
to exercise training had 4% fewer deaths and stayed out of the hospital longer.
Exercise training meta-analysis of trials in patients with chronic heart failure
(ExTraMATCH). BMJ 2004;328:189 (24 January),
Hypertension: 60-90 Minutes Exercise Lowers: Kazuko Ishikawa-Takata
and colleagues at Japan's National Institute of Health and Nutrition tested 207
men and women who had high blood pressure but were otherwise healthy. None
exercised regularly. Divided into 5 groups, those exercising 60-90 minutes/week
had a 12 mmHg systolic & 8 mmHg diastolic lowering. More exercise was without
added benefit on blood pressure. JAMA 8/30/03
Impotence: Exercise Reduces: The New England Research Center report
of the Massachusetts Male Aging Study with men ages 40-70 followed for 9 years. Urology 10/00. AP 10/6/00.
Impotence: Exercise Helps Prevent: In the Health Professionals
follow-up study of 31,742 males ages 53-90, running 3 hr/week led to a 30% lower
risk of impotence than those doing little exercise. There was a 15-20% reduction
from brisk walking 3 hr/week. A 30% lower risk is equivalent to adding 2-5 years
to sex life. Rimm, Harvard, Annal Internal Med 8/03.
Longevity: Exercise Increases: The only exercise test variable
that was associated significantly with time to death in both age groups was
maximal metabolic equivalents (METs)(workload) achieved: each 1 MET increase in
exercise capacity was associated with an 11% reduction in annual mortality.
(Elderly averaged 7 MET and young veterans averaged 10). Exercise-induced ST
depression was more common in those who subsequently died, but was not an
independent predictor of mortality. Stanford, Am J Med 2002 Apr
15;112(6):453-9
Longevity: Exercise, Moderate Alcohol Good: Exercise was predictive
of fewer IADL limitations and greater longevity, positive affect, and meaning in
life 8 years later. Avoiding tobacco was predictive of longevity. Before
controlling for health conditions, exercise predicted decreased risk of basic
activities of daily living limitations and having more goals; moderate alcohol
use predicted longevity; annual health checkup predicted more IADL limitations.
Case Western, Kahana, Psychosom Med 2002 May-Jun;64(3):382-94
Longevity: Joggers Much Lower Mortality: 5 yr f/u study of 4658
Danish men found the 96 men jogging at both exams had RR 0.39 of dying. BMJ 9/9/00.
Longevity: Walking Helps: 707 nonsmoking retired men, 61-81 years old
in the Honolulu Heart Program were tested for how far they walked each day. Data
on overall mortality (from any cause) were collected over a 12-year follow-up.
During the period, there were 208 deaths. After adjusting for age, the mortality
rate among the men who walked less than 1 mile (1.6 km) per day was nearly twice
that among those who walked more than 2 miles (3.2 km) per day (40.5% vs. 23.8%,
P=0.001). The cumulative incidence of death after 12 years for the most active
walkers was reached in less than 7 years among the men who were least active.
The distance walked remained inversely related to mortality after adjustment for
overall measures of activity and other risk factors (P=0.01).
Longevity Increased in Fit Women: Gulati and colleagues, in a Sept.
15, 2003, rapid access publication of Circulation, based on longitudinal
follow-up of 5,721 women for eight years from 1992 found that the FRS-adjusted
all-cause mortality risk decreased by 17% for every 1-MET increase in exercise
capacity. (For men, 12%)
McArdles Disease: Pop Helps Exercise: This very rare disease
that affected 1 in every 100,000 people shows up as a severe difficulty in
handling the early minutes of exercise. It is due to a lack of an enzyme that is
necessary for the conversion of glycogen, a form of stored energy from sugar
that is used by the body as fuel in the early stages of exercise. Researchers at
the Univ. of Texas, Southwest, have shown that by giving patients a sugary cola
before exercising, that their bodies were able to do just fine, avoiding severe
muscle soreness and muscle injury that often occurs to McArdle patients from
even brief exercise. New England J Medicine 12/20/03. Ed: This is
the only time I have read something good about sugared pop. The other 99,999
out of 100,000 should avoid the stuff as something that makes you fat and
unhealthy.
Muscle Soreness: PubMed articles 12/2/01 found no benefit from
ultrasound, hyperbaric oxygen, NSAIDs, aspirin, acupuncture, or stretching.
Training does help. In shape runners have immediate soreness, but not delayed
soreness. No help came from phototherapy, laser, cryotherapy, homeopathy,
transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, upper body ergometry, or alcohol.
Post-exercised massage may help, but the seven studies which have been done are
of poor quality and don't have uniform results. Another reviewer conclude there
was no benefit from post-exercise massage. Br J Sports Med 1998
Sep;32(3):212-4. Trained individuals had only 40% of the CK creatine kinase
elevation (a muscle enzyme and thus marker of muscle breakdown) of untrained
despite greater soreness. Int J Sports Med 1997 Aug;18(6):431-7. Three
g/day of L-carnitine for 3 weeks may have helped untrained with reduced CK and
reduced soreness. : Int J Sports Med 1996 Jul;17(5):320-4.
Vit C helped in one small study (Pain 1992 Sep;50(3):317-21) but not
another. A Romanian study claims there are 6 DB studies with over 100 athletes
and l-carnitine showing benefits acutely and chronically. Physiologie 1989 Apr-Jun;26(2):111-29. L-carnitine $10 for 60 500mg tabs.
Schizophrenic Said Helped by Exercise: A researcher describes
the outcomes gained by a young man with a diagnosis of chronic schizophrenia in
a 12-week progressive exercise program. Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale.
Significant changes in his psychological functioning, communication, animation,
personal interest, motivation and insight into his body image. His physical
fitness levels also improved and he showed less motor retardation and less body
tension. Nurs Times 1995 Sep 6-12;91(36):37-9
Stretching No Benefit: study thus suggests that pre-exercise static
stretching has no preventive effect on the muscular soreness, tenderness and
force loss that follows heavy eccentric exercise. Scand J Med Sci Sports 1999 Aug;9(4):219-25. Same= Res Q Exerc Sport 1989 Dec;60(4):357-61
Stretching No Benefit: BMJ 8/31/02 review study found no
significant decrease in soreness or injury due to stretching.
Stroke Decreased by Exercise: J Am Coll Cardiol 2002 May
1;39(9):1482-8. Benefit especially for those with increased L ventricular heart
mass, but present in all.
Stroke Risk Much Lower in Fit Men: 16,878 men, ages 40-87 yr, maximal
treadmill exercise test, self-reported health habits. 32 stroke deaths during 10
yr of follow-up. After adjustment for age and examination year, there was an
inverse association between cardiorespiratory fitness and stroke mortality (P =
0.005 for trend). This association remained after further adjustment for
cigarette smoking, alcohol intake, body mass index, hypertension, diabetes
mellitus, and parental history of coronary heart disease (P = 0.02 for trend).
High-fit men (most fit 40%) had 68% and moderate-fit men had 63% lower risk of
stroke mortality when compared with low-fit men (least fit 20%), respectively.
Aerobics Center Longitudinal study. Tx A&M. Med Sci Sports Exerc 2002
Apr;34(4):592-5
Vigorous Best: Associations of light, moderate, and vigorous
intensity physical activity with longevity. The Harvard Alumni Health Study. Am J Epidemiol 2000 Feb 1;151(3):293-9, Lee IM, Paffenbarger RS Jr,
Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115,
USA. Physical activity is associated with better health; however, the optimal
intensity of activity remains unclear. A total of 13,485 men (mean age, 57.5
years) from the Harvard Alumni Health Study reported their walking, stair
climbing, and sports/recreation in 1977. Between 1977 and 1992, 2,539 died.
After adjusting for the different activity components, distance walked and
stories climbed independently predicted longevity (p, trend = 0.004 and <0.001,
respectively). Light activities (<4 multiples of resting metabolic rate (METs))
were not associated with reduced mortality rates, moderate activities (4-<6 METs)
appeared somewhat beneficial, and vigorous activities (> or =6 METs) clearly
predicted lower mortality rates (p, trend = 0.72, 0.07, and <0.001,
respectively). These data provide some support for current recommendations that
emphasize moderate intensity activity; they also clearly indicate a benefit of
vigorous activity.
Weight Loss in Women Best in Those Assigned to Exercising More
Vigorously and Longer: In a 12 month random assignment study of varying
degrees of exercise, the best results were those assigned to the vigorous
exercise groups and those exercising 200 minutes or more per week. The vigorous
exercise group lost an average of 20# and the 200 minute group lost 13.6% of
their initial weight. Effect of exercise duration and intensity on weight loss
in overweight, sedentary women: a randomized trial. Jakicic JM, Marcus BH,
Gallagher KI, Napolitano M, Lang W. JAMA. 2003 Sep 10;290(10):1323-30
