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Avoid Swimming After Exercise to Drop Weight Gain

A study conducted by Australian researchers concluded that cooling off with a dip in the pool after a good work-out may make exercisers more likely to eat than those who don’t go for a swim after exercising.  …..click  & see

According to the Chicago Tribune:

“Test subjects ate more after (two different types of) water immersions than they did after sitting in a chair.

Average calorie intake per person after the cold water immersion was about 489, and about 517 after the tepid water immersion. After resting in a chair, average calorie intake was about 409.

Researchers found lower levels of leptin and higher levels of ghrelin after both water immersion experiments. Following water immersion more carbs and protein were eaten as well.”

Since the study included only 10 participants, researchers suggested that further studies be done with larger sample sizes. The study was published in the Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise.


Resources:

Chicago Tribune September 25, 2010

Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise October 2010; 42(10)

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Mild Memory Loss is Not a Part of Normal Aging

Getting older, in and of itself, is not the cause of so-called “senior moments”. A new study found that even these mild memory lapses are caused by the same brain lesions associated with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias.
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Researchers found that in the last four to five years of life, people’s memory showed a very rapid decline. Pathologic lesions were found to be related to this rapid decline. The preceding years showed a much more gradual decline that was the actual result of normal aging.

According to Newswise:
“… [R]ecognizing that the earliest changes in memory are related to Alzheimer’s pathology can lead to early diagnosis and will be critical information if a treatment is developed that can alter the pathologic course of the disease.”

Resources:
Newswise September 15, 2010
Neurology September 21, 2010; 75(12):1070-8. Epub 2010 Sep 15

Posted By Dr. Mercola | October 07 2010 | 43,083 views

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Featured

All Wound Up

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Our body wants to eat, sleep and work at specific times. Scientists now know what makes the biological clock tick, writes T.V. Jayan

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All living organisms — humans are no exception — are controlled by a master clock. This biological timepiece, located in the brain, aligns an organism’s biological, behavioural and physiological activities with the day and night cycle. Its tick tock wakes us up in the morning, reminds us to eat at regular intervals and tells us when to go to bed.

But what sets this internal timekeeping, known as the circadian rhythm, has remained a mystery for long. This, despite scientists having had clues about its existence for more than a century.

The puzzle is slowly unfolding, thanks to advances in modern biology that offer a better insight into genes and their workings. Scientists now know the exact location of the master pacemaker and how is it regulated.

Research has also shown the circadian rhythm shares a reciprocal relationship with metabolism. In other words, while the circadian rhythm can influence metabolic activity, food intake can also modulate the functioning of the biological clock.

The mechanism by which feeding modulates the components of the clock machinery was discovered last month by a team of researchers led by Gad Asher of the University of Geneva. The paper, which appeared in the latest issue of Cell, shows that a protein called PARP-1 is at play here. The scientists found that mice that lack the gene that secretes PARP-1 fail to give the correct food intake cues to the circadian clock, thereby disrupting the synchronisation.

“This is an important finding,” says Raga Krishnakumar, a University of California San Francisco University researcher who, together with her former mentor W. Lee Kraus, showed early this year that PARP-1 is a multi-faceted protein that also regulates the expression of another protein which plays a vital role in aging, apart from helping contain DNA damage.

Scientists believe disruptions in the synchronisation between the circadian rhythm and metabolism play a key role in triggering many disorders that plague the modern world such as obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.

The master clock occupies a tiny area in the hypothalamus region of the brain. Called the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), this brain region — the size of a grain of rice — contains a cluster of nearly 20,000 neurons. These neurons, in response to light signals received from the retina, send signals to other parts of the brain as well as the rest of the body to control a host of bodily functions such as sleep, metabolism, body temperature and hormone production.

As per the cues received through these neurons from the master clock, the cellular clocks in the tissues in different body organs are reset on a daily basis. The operation of these cellular clocks is controlled by the co-ordinated action of a limited number of core clock genes.

The year 1994 was a watershed year in research on the circadian rhythm. American Japanese scientist Joseph Takahashi, working at Northwestern University in the US, discovered the genetic basis for the mammalian circadian clock. The gene his team discovered was named CLOCK in 1997. Subsequently, scientists discovered several other genes associated with the timekeeping function such as BMAL1, PER and CRY, which are also involved in the working of the main SCN clock machinery as well as subsidiary clocks in other parts of the body.

The cues received from the master clock are important. Based on them, various genes in the cells change their expression rhythmically over a 24-hour period. It times the production of various body chemicals such as enzymes and hormones so that the body can function in an optimal fashion.

In the normal course, the body follows the master clock in setting its physiological and psychological conditions for optimal performance. While the 24-hour solar cycle is the main cue for resetting the master clock — just like a wall-mounted clock resets after a 24-hour cycle — there are other time cues as well: food intake, social activity, temperature and so on. “Unlike geophysical time, the biological clock does not follow an exact 24-hour cycle on its own. Various external and internal time cues that it receives play a vital role in bringing the periodicity close to 24 hours,” says Vijay Kumar Sharma of the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore, who has been studying the circadian rhythm for years.

However , modern society often imposes deviations from the regular work-rest cycle. “Basically, mammals including humans are diurnal (active during the day rather than at night). Whatever be the external compulsions (night shifts or partying late), the inner mechanisms of the body follow a diurnal pattern,” says Sharma. “It is bound to be out of sync if we deviate from the routine.”

“A major consequence of modern lifestyle is the disruption of the circadian rhythm. This leads to a number of pathological conditions, including sleep disturbances, depression, metabolic disorders and cancer. Studies reveal the risk of breast cancer is significantly higher in industrialised societies, and that the risk increases as developing countries become more and more westernised. Moreover, a moderate increase in the incidence of breast cancer is reported in women working nightshifts,” says Sourabh Sahar, a researcher working on the circadian rhythm at the University of California, Irvine.

Need more proof that the body has a mind of its own?

Source: The Telegraph (Kolkata, India)

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Brawn and Brains

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Children who exercise regularly have a bigger hippocampus and thus an improved memory.

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Click to see:>Physically Fit Kids Have Bigger Hippocampus

In the age of the intellect, it may not be surprising if people do not exercise regularly. What does it matter to an intellectual career if you are not in your peak physical fitness, as long as you are healthy and in reasonable shape? Recent scientific research, however, says there is a connection. Fit people tend to be better off intellectually, no matter what their age. And fitter children tend to have better brains, literally and figuratively.

Art Kramer, professor of psychology at the University of Illinois, the US, has been studying the influence of exercise on brains for a long time now. Like everyone else, he has been noticing links between the mind and exercise.

Recently, he set out to measure something others have not done so far with children’s brains: how their size responds to exercise. Kramer found out something that should make all educators sit up and take notice: fit children have a bigger hippocampus in the brain and perform better on memory tests. Says Kramer, “Brain size and function improve significantly with physical fitness.”

Kramer’s was the first study that tried to use magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to correlate brain sizes and physical fitness. Other studies previously have shown a correlation between exercise and academic performance in children. Kramer himself had earlier shown a correlation between exercise and brain size in older people.

Exercise has been shown to be beneficial in recovery after brain radiation treatment. Exercise has been also seen to be good for treating schizophrenia, depression and other brain-related problems. The link between physical fitness and mental fitness seem to be quite strong, and also in an unexpected manner.

Recent research in neuroscience has shown a strong correlation between brain size and performance. Although it seems to contradict common sense, neuroscientists have seen a link between brain size and mental ability, on occasions even intelligence. While this may be true even for overall brain size, the link seems to be strong for parts of the brain that seem to increase volume with certain activity. Neuroscientists have been focusing on the hippocampus because it is critical to several functions like long-term memory and spatial ability.

The size of the hippocampus is seen to increase with certain activity. For example, certain areas of the region are large in experienced taxi drivers. This is not surprising because specific skills are seen to increase the size of specific areas of the brain. However, current research on exercise goes beyond skills. It is about overall fitness, and it is seen to increase the size as well as improve the function of parts of the brain.

Kramer’s studies mainly pertained to aerobic exercise, the most well-studied form of exercise. He used a tested and reliable method of determining fitness: a person’s ability to use oxygen while running on a treadmill. Those who used oxygen more efficiently are fitter. This is supposed to be the gold standard in determining physical fitness. Kramer and his team worked with 49 children, of whom the fitter ones had a 12 per cent larger hippocampus. He also made the children perform memory tests, and the fitter children also scored better on those. Those who had a bigger hippocampus also performed better.

 

In another recent study, Lesley Cottrell of the University of West Virginia analysed over two years the link between physical fitness and academic performance, from fifth grade to seventh grade. She separated the students into groups, those who maintained their fitness levels over the two-year period, those who gained and those who lost it. She then analysed their academic performance during the period. Those who maintained their fitness were the best. Those who improved on it came second, and those who lost it came third. Those who remained unfit were in the last group.

Although this study did not look at brain sizes, the study size was large enough — 725 students — to be taken seriously. It also sent home a message, one that Kramer’s study substantiated. “In these times of tight budgets, it is the budget for physical education that is cut first,” says Kramer. “We should reconsider this policy.” Fit children are seen to carry their fitness into adulthood. The American Heart Association recommends 60 minutes of physical activity for children and adults.

Neuroscientists had also looked at older people and found roughly the same correlation as in children. The brain function, as measured by its chemistry, also improved in several studies. In animals, the size of the cerebellum — a brain part that is important for maintaining balance — increased with exercise. Blood flow improved as well.

Human studies are not as thorough, but they suggest the same pattern. Neuroscientists are now trying to see how the ability to tackle physically challenging tasks can correlate with the ability to tackle mentally challenging tasks.

It is early days yet, but the message is clear: physical activity is essential for maintaining an active mental life.

Click to see : Physical Fitness Increases Brain Size in Elderly

Source :
The Telegraph (Kolkata, India)

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Healthy Tips

Drinking Water Proven to Help Weight Loss

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A study says that  obese dieters  can reduce their weight by 5 pounds in three months  if they drink two cups of water before every meal. And also one year later they will  loose more weight .
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This technique of dieting is welknown, but this study may be the first hard evidence that increasing your water intake is a useful weight-loss strategy.

According to Discovery News:
“The reason could be physical. According to some research, water consumption might spark the body to produce more heat, boosting metabolism and burning more calories. Or, drinking more water might simply make people less likely to drink a lot of high-calorie sugar-filled beverages.”

Source:
Discovery News August 23, 2010

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