Training in mindfulness meditation and sustained moderate-intensity exercise appear to be associated with reduced illness severity and fewer days of missed work because of acute respiratory infections (ARIs), compared with doing nothing, according to the findings of a randomized trial.
Bruce Barrett, MD, PhD, from the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and colleagues report their findings in the July/August issue of the Annals of Family Medicine.
According to the researchers, enhancing general physical and mental health might reduce ARI burden.
"Evidence suggests that mindfulness meditation can reduce experienced stress and negative emotions," Dr. Barrett and colleagues write. "Similarly, both epidemiological and experimental studies have suggested that regular exercise may protect people from ARI illness."
The researchers sought to evaluate the ability of meditation or exercise to reduce the incidence, duration, and severity of ARIs in adults 50 years and older.
A total of 154 participants were randomized to 1 of 3 study groups approximately equal in size; 149 completed the trial. One group received 8 weeks of training in mindfulness meditation, another group received 8 weeks of training in moderate-intensity sustained exercise, and the third group served as an observational control group.
The standardized 8-week mindful meditation course involved group sessions (2.5 hours weekly) and at-home practice (45 minutes daily). The exercise intervention was similar to the meditation course in terms of time and location, but participants focused on achieving moderate-intensity sustained exercise, with a target rating of 12 to 16 points on a 6- to 20-point scale.
In the meditation group, there were 27 ARIs, resulting in 257 days of illness. In the exercise group, there were 26 ARIs, resulting in 241 days of illness; and in the control group, there were 40 ARIs, resulting in 453 days of illness.
ARI severity, measured on the Wisconsin Upper Respiratory Symptom Survey (WURSS-24), was 144 in the meditation group, 248 in the exercise group, and 358 in the control group.
Global severity was significantly lower in the meditation group than in the control group (P = .004). Duration of illness in the meditation group trended toward statistical significance, compared with the control group (P = .034). Severity and duration of illness were lower in the exercise group than in the control group, although the differences were not statistically significant (P = .16 and P = .032, respectively). The researchers had designated a P value of .025 as the cutoff for the rejection of the null hypothesis.
A total of 67 days of work were missed because of ARIs in the control group, 32 in the exercise group (P = .041), and 16 in the meditation group (P < .001). Viruses were identified from nasal washes in 53.8% of samples from the meditation group, 42.1% from the exercise group, and 54.3% from the control group. Neutrophil counts were similar in the 3 groups, whereas slightly higher interleukin-8 levels were detected in the meditation group than in the control group (P = .022).
"This ground-breaking randomized trial of meditation and exercise vs wait-list control among adults aged 50 years and older found significant reductions in ARI illness," Dr. Barrett and colleagues conclude.
The researchers note that one of the limitations of this study is that "participants in such a trial cannot be blinded to behavioral training interventions, thus allowing for the possibility of self-report bias."
However, they add that if "these results are confirmed in future studies, there will be important implications for public and private health-related policy and practice, as well as for scientific research regarding mechanisms of health maintenance and disease prevention."
Source: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/766869?sssdmh=dm1.801395&src=nldne
Welcome to my collection of health articles. Most of them contain little nuggets of health wisdom that we can easily apply to our daily lives. As you can gather, I've been consuming all sorts of supplements over the years, most of them from iherb. They deliver on time (DHL), and prices are good. If you're a first-time buyer, use my code 'pot089' to enjoy up to $10 off.
Wednesday 11 July 2012
Wednesday 4 July 2012
Walking reduces risk of diabetes in at-risk population
Among people with low physical activity and a high risk of diabetes, those who walk more throughout the day are less likely to actually get the disorder, according to new research.
The study, published in Diabetes Care on June 20, is part of a growing body of evidence that for people who get very little exercise, "even small amounts of activity will provide a really good return on their investment," said Dr. Catrine Tudor-Locke, who studies walking and health at Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and was not involved in the research.
To get a better sense of walking's potential benefits, Dr. Amanda Fretts, a researcher at the University of Washington in Seattle, and her colleagues asked more than 1,800 people to wear a pedometer on their hip for a week to tally the number of steps they typically took each day.
All of them came from Native American communities in Arizona, Oklahoma, and North and South Dakota that are known to have low physical activity levels and high rates of diabetes.
About a quarter of the group were considered to have very low activity, taking fewer than 3,500 steps a day, while half took fewer than 7,800 steps per day.
At the beginning of the study, none of the participants had diabetes. But after five years of follow-up, 243 people had developed the condition.
About 17% of the people in the lowest activity group developed diabetes, compared to 12% of the people who took more than 3,500 steps a day.
After taking into account people's age, whether they smoked, and other diabetes risk factors, Dr. Fretts's team determined that people who walked the most were 29% less likely to develop diabetes than those who walked the least.
"Our finding wasn't surprising given that other studies have shown that even light activity is associated with a lower risk of diabetes," Dr. Fretts wrote in an email to Reuters Health.
"Increased physical activity may prevent weight gain and promote weight loss, a major determinant of diabetes risk," she said.
The link may also be related to physical activity's effects on inflammation and glucose, said Dr. Fretts.
Source: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/766657?sssdmh=dm1.799093&src=nldne
The study, published in Diabetes Care on June 20, is part of a growing body of evidence that for people who get very little exercise, "even small amounts of activity will provide a really good return on their investment," said Dr. Catrine Tudor-Locke, who studies walking and health at Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and was not involved in the research.
To get a better sense of walking's potential benefits, Dr. Amanda Fretts, a researcher at the University of Washington in Seattle, and her colleagues asked more than 1,800 people to wear a pedometer on their hip for a week to tally the number of steps they typically took each day.
All of them came from Native American communities in Arizona, Oklahoma, and North and South Dakota that are known to have low physical activity levels and high rates of diabetes.
About a quarter of the group were considered to have very low activity, taking fewer than 3,500 steps a day, while half took fewer than 7,800 steps per day.
At the beginning of the study, none of the participants had diabetes. But after five years of follow-up, 243 people had developed the condition.
About 17% of the people in the lowest activity group developed diabetes, compared to 12% of the people who took more than 3,500 steps a day.
After taking into account people's age, whether they smoked, and other diabetes risk factors, Dr. Fretts's team determined that people who walked the most were 29% less likely to develop diabetes than those who walked the least.
"Our finding wasn't surprising given that other studies have shown that even light activity is associated with a lower risk of diabetes," Dr. Fretts wrote in an email to Reuters Health.
"Increased physical activity may prevent weight gain and promote weight loss, a major determinant of diabetes risk," she said.
The link may also be related to physical activity's effects on inflammation and glucose, said Dr. Fretts.
Source: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/766657?sssdmh=dm1.799093&src=nldne
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