REPOST: Walk, or Run, to Lower Heart Disease Risk: Benefits Are Similar

It is generally believed that running results in a better workout than walking does, but a study published on TIME shows that walking may produce the same effects.

A brisk walk may be just as good as a run for keeping the the heart healthy.

That’s encouraging, considering less than half of Americans meet the government’s recommendation of at least 2.5 hours of moderate to intense aerobic exercise a week. A new study published in the American Heart Association (AHA) journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology found that walkers lowered their risk of high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes as much as runners.

Researchers studied 33,060 runners who were participating in the National Runners’ Health Study and 15,045 walkers enrolled in the National Walkers’ Health Study over six years. All the participants were between the ages of 18 to 80, with most in their 40s and 50s. The exercises answered questionnaires about their physical activity, and the researchers calculated how much energy they expended based on the distance the volunteers reported walking or running. They also recorded any doctor-diagnosed heart conditions.

The scientists found that while vigorous running required slightly higher levels of energy than moderate intensity walking, both translated into a parallel drop in incidence of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, or heart disease over the study period. And the more the participants walked or ran, the greater the benefit in lowering their heart disease risk.

Although walking isn’t as intense as running, the study authors say both target the same muscle groups, which could explain why their results in improving heart health are so similar. The results suggest that the type of exercise may not be as important as how much people walk or run.

Here’s what the researchers found:

• Running significantly reduced the risk for being diagnosed with hypertension by 4.2% while walking reduced the risk by 7.2%
• Running reduced the chances of having high cholesterol by 4.3% and walking by 7%
• Running lowered risk of diabetes by 12.1% while walking dropped the risk by 12.3%
• Running reduced coronary heart disease risk by 4.5% compared to 9.3% for walking.

The results are encouraging since walking may be a more appealing and sustainable for more people than running. Because running is a more intense form of physical activity, runners are able to burn more calories and exercise the heart to higher levels within a shorter period of time, but the results support the idea that any physical activity, as long as it’s consistent, can have lasting benefits. Last summer, the Centers for Disease Control released a report showing that more Americans are walking for exercise, and that those who walk are three times more likely to meet the recommended level of physical activity.

The TIME story on the report detailed the benefits:

What’s more, people who walk are significantly more likely — three times more likely on average, in fact — to meet the government’s physical activity recommendations. Overall, the survey data showed, more Americans were meeting that goal in 2010 (48%) than in 2005 (41%), and more walkers (60%) than non-walkers (30%) met the guideline. The more people walked, the more likely they were to meet the exercise requirement: compared with non-walkers, those who walked 10-19 minutes a week were 34% more likely to meet the standard; those walking 20-29 minutes a week were 52% more likely; people who walked 30-59 minutes a week were 80% more likely; and those walking more than hour a week were nearly four times more likely to get the minimum amount of recommended exercise.

More data will likely continue to compare intense activity such as running with more moderate exercise like walking for everything from weight loss to longevity, but more studies show that for many, particularly those who are relatively sedentary, walking may be a healthy and effective way to start increasing physical activity. And research also supports the idea that for the heart, it’s not the quantity so much as the consistency of exercise that may keep atherosclerosis and high blood pressure at bay.

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Burn more calories: Incorporating circuit training into your weekly gym routine

In the gym where I work out, whenever some of the rarely used equipment are moved from their usual position, most members already know that somebody named David Wayne Fish is doing a routine different from what is usually done in the barbell room.

Image source: cathe.com

And yes, they know that it is circuit training day for me.

I have noticed that most of the gym goers in our local gym are afraid of getting out of their usual routine — Monday and Tuesday for shoulder and chest exercises, Thursday and Friday for arms and abs exercises, and so on. They seem to be stuck in a regular set of activities, believing that regular weight lifting is all they need to accomplish their desired results.

Image source: cathe.com

But I believe that if the lifter's aim is to really shed extra pounds and build functional muscles, then he should try incorporating circuit training in his regular schedule. Circuit training is a type of workout wherein one lifts lighter weights but varies his exercises to target different muscle groups. The workout also involves fewer repetitions per lifting activity and less rest in between. The focus is on having a variety of exercise methods.

Image source: cathe.com

Circuit training is good for improving muscle endurance and increasing heart rate to burn more calories, just like what aerobic exercises do. Most fitness sites, like WebMD.com, usually recommend this type of training for people whose main goal is to lose extra weight.

There are different exercises which can be included in circuit training. For the purpose of sharing mine, I listed one of my circuit training routines below.

1. Bench press – 12 reps 
2. Dumbbell curl – 20 reps 
3. Treadmill – 10 minutes 
4. Pull-ups – 10 reps 
5. Stationary bike – 10 minutes
6. Squats – 20 reps 
7. Sit-ups – 30 reps 

Image source: thehealthreporter.tv

Before trying this routine, consider asking an expert first about what exercise program fits you. It is always important to get professional advice before engaging in a difficult physical activity like circuit training.

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‘Athleteas’: Athletes and teas aren’t really incompatible

“Athleteas.”

It was absurd. As my soccer coach sat on the cedar stool, and as he moved his gaze away from the tea-filled styro cup that stood beside my right wrist, he uttered this obscure word.

“Athleteas?” I asked.

Image source: mensfitness.com

And he was talking about tea and athletes’ compatibility.

My soccer coach was a 44-year-old British bachelor—Nigel Poynter—who hated tea. For him its taste was just awfully bitter, unbefitting to any British meal. When her ex-girlfriend had sent her boxes of Earl Greys and Babingtons’, he just gave them to us as if tossing a used napkin into a trash can.

Image source: therefinementstudio.com

The moment that had been intended to be a typical rest day for the two of us was turned into a serious one. The dumbfounded and perplexed me who wore a golf shirt adorned by my ostentatiously stitched name on the back—David Fish—was forced to ask him about the real connection between tea and athletes, for I remembered my old boxing coach telling me that any kind of tea would weaken a boxer's legs and reflexes. Coach Poynter told me, as he signaled the waiter to approach us, that the myth and science behind the effects of tea in an athlete’s body missed the point by not proving whether those effects are beneficial or not.

I handed him my iPad and asked him to read this article. Then he was silent for minutes, perusing the online article with gusto.

Image source: cbc.ca

After reading, he smiled, handed the gadget back to me and said: “This has a point. But I've coached a lot of tea-drinking British sportsmen for more than 20 years and, fortunately, and perhaps because of hard work and dedication to the sport, we have managed to bring countless championship cups from different leagues outside London—leagues that let us compete with many non-tea drinking nations. Too much of everything is bad—I'm saying it loosely, but take it from the Spice Girls, American boy.”

Want more tips on how to be fit and healthy? Follow David Wayne Fish on Twitter.

REPOST: For Athletes, Risks From Ibuprofen Use

Gretchen Reynolds writes in The New York Times how several studies have found growing evidence that ibuprofen and similar anti-inflammatory painkillers taken before a workout do not offer any benefit and may be causing disagreeable physical damage instead.

Image source: The New York Times

Many active people use the painkiller ibuprofen on an almost daily basis. In surveys, up to 70 percent of distance runners and other endurance athletes report that they down the pills before every workout or competition, viewing the drug as a pre-emptive strike against muscle soreness.

But a valuable new study joins growing evidence that ibuprofen and similar anti-inflammatory painkillers taken before a workout do not offer any benefit and may be causing disagreeable physical damage instead, particularly to the intestines.

Studies have already shown that strenuous exercise alone commonly results in a small amount of intestinal trauma. A representative experiment published last year found that cyclists who rode hard for an hour immediately developed elevated blood levels of a marker that indicates slight gastrointestinal leakage.

Physiologically, it makes sense that exercise would affect the intestines as it does, because, during prolonged exertion, digestion becomes a luxury, said Dr. Kim van Wijck, currently a surgical resident at Orbis Medical Center in the Netherlands, who led the small study. So the blood that normally would flow to the small intestine is instead diverted to laboring muscles. Starved of blood, some of the cells lining the intestines are traumatized and start to leak.

Thankfully, the damage seems to be short-lived, Dr. van Wijck said. Her research showed that within an hour after a cyclist finished riding, the stressed intestines returned to normal.

But the most common side-effect of ibuprofen is gastrointestinal damage. And because many athletes take the drug for pain before and after a workout, Dr. van Wijck set out to determine the combined effect of exercise and ibuprofen.

For the new study, published in the December issue of Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, researchers at Maastricht University in the Netherlands recruited nine healthy, active men and had them visit the university’s human performance lab four times.

During two of the visits, the men rested languorously for an hour, although before one of the visits, they swallowed 400 milligrams of ibuprofen the night before and also the morning of their trip to the lab. (Four hundred milligrams is the recommended nonprescription dosage for adults using the drug to treat headaches or other minor pain.)

During the remaining visits, the men briskly rode stationary bicycles for that same hour. Before one of those rides, though, they again took 400 milligrams of ibuprofen the night before and the morning of their workouts.

At the end of each rest or ride, researchers drew blood to check whether the men’s small intestines were leaking. Dr. van Wijck found that blood levels of a protein indicating intestinal leakage were, in fact, much higher when the men combined bike riding with ibuprofen than during the other experimental conditions when they rode or took ibuprofen alone. Notably, the protein levels remained elevated several hours after exercise and ibuprofen.

The health implications of this finding are not yet clear, although they are worrisome, Dr. van Wijck said. It may be that if someone uses ibuprofen before every exercise session for a year or more, she said, “intestinal integrity might be compromised.” In that case, small amounts of bacteria and digestive enzymes could leak regularly into the bloodstream.

More immediately, if less graphically, the absorption of nutrients could be compromised, especially after exercise, Dr. van Wijck said, which could affect the ability of tired muscles to resupply themselves with fuel and regenerate.

The research looks specifically at prophylactic use of ibuprofen and does not address the risks and benefits of ibuprofen after an injury occurs. Short-term use of ibuprofen for injury is generally considered appropriate.

The Dutch study is not the first to find damage from combining exercise and ibuprofen. Earlier work has shown that frequent use of the drug before and during workouts can also lead to colonic seepage. In a famous study from a few years ago, researchers found that runners at the Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run who were regular ibuprofen users had small amounts of colonic bacteria in their bloodstream.

This bacterial incursion resulted in “higher levels of systemic inflammation,” said David C. Nieman, a professor of health and exercise science at Appalachian State University who conducted the study and is himself an ultramarathoner. In other words, the ultramarathon racers who frequently used ibuprofen, an anti-inflammatory, wound up with higher overall levels of bodily inflammation. They also reported being just as sore after the race as runners who had not taken ibuprofen.

Animal studies have also shown that ibuprofen hampers the ability of muscles to rebuild themselves after exercise. So why do so many athletes continue enthusiastically to swallow large and frequent doses of ibuprofen and related anti-inflammatory painkillers, including aspirin, before and during exercise?

“The idea is just entrenched in the athletic community that ibuprofen will help you to train better and harder,” Dr. Nieman said. “But that belief is simply not true. There is no scientifically valid reason to use ibuprofen before exercise and many reasons to avoid it.”

Dr. van Wijck agrees. “We do not yet know what the long-term consequences are” of regularly mixing exercise and ibuprofen, she said. But it is clear that “ibuprofen consumption by athletes is not harmless and should be strongly discouraged.”

David Wayne Fish is all about proper wellness. Check out this Twitter account for updates on health and exercise.

Jane Fonda: The return of a fitness guru

Image credit: justpressplay.net

I, David Wayne Fish of California, look up to a lot of individuals. Celebrities, sportsmen, political leaders—through example, they help me strive to become a better person. But out of all of them, there is a set of people I really like to watch out for: fitness gurus. I always get inspired by their dedication to motivating others to live a healthy lifestyle.

One of these fitness gurus is Jane Fonda.

For those of you who do not know her, Jane Fonda was the face of fitness for many Americans in the 1980s. Released in 1982, her workout program called Jane Fonda’s Workout inspired lots of people to lead fit and active lives. It got so popular that it became one of the highest-selling home videos ever, with more than a million copies sold.

Image credit: brooklynfitchick.typepad.com

Now, nearing the age of 75, Fonda released a new DVD entitled Prime Time: AM/PM Yoga for Beginners. This new program introduces the world of yoga to baby boomers. For the fitness guru, it is a way to tell people that being healthy shouldn’t be defined by age. The program’s bound to teach its viewers that in exercising, age does not matter.

“If you can’t run, walk … If you can’t lift heavy weights, so lift light weights. But just keep yourself physically active. It makes all the difference not just for your body, but for your brain as well,” Fonda said when interviewed by CNN.

Image credit: lasplash.com

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Dude, where's my junk?! Crude test may help men trim fat

Bill Briggs of NBC News writes that what makes men, well, men may be useful in deciding when it’s time to really consider losing weight.

Fellas, you're chillingly aware, no doubt, of what goes down when cold water contacts your most precious appendage: "shrinkage."

Now, some obesity watchdogs are worried that you may be too plump to see your own private parts, a.k.a: "blockage."

This fall, British health advocates surveyed 1,000 U.K. males and found that 33 percent of guys between 35 and 60 years old possess guts so rotund, their bellies form a full eclipse of their genitalia when the men stand and take a gander down south. This blubbery blind spot leaves such men more likely to develop Type 2 diabetes, colon cancer, heart disease and other health problems, recent research has shown. The group WeLoveOurHealth.co.uk conducted the poll.

In fact, the wellness and marketing experts behind that website recently launched a national campaign in England, using that crude-yet-quick assessment to urge bulging boys to adopt immediate lifestyle changes. They've dubbed it "The Big Check." And here we thought the Brits were so stuffy.

WeLoveOurHealth -- headed by wellbeing specialist Daryl Taylor and Dr. Sarah Brewer, a nutritionist -- conducted its survey through phone interviews and face-to-face questioning sessions, Taylor said. The small organization is privately funded (Taylor and Brewer are paying expenses out of pocket). Its mission is "all about men's health – from action plans for lifestyle to diet plans for maintaining weight to prevention to health assessments," Taylor said. "Men can ask questions about their health through our site and get answers within 24 hours. This is great because men tend to like to do things at their ease and in their own time and often often don't want to go to the doctor."

Would a similar push on U.S. soil find a receptive audience among the bulbous dudes in this country? Imagine a male doctor in the states telling his male patient: "Please disrobe and rise to your feet. If you'll now look toward your toes you'll notice you can't even see your own manhood." There's a semi-decent chance the doc won't be slapped with a malpractice suit so much as slugged in the chops.

"You’ve got to know you’re patient really well, know what they’re sensitivies are. Some men may not take kindly to that kind of approach," said Dr. Sanjay Jain, a practicing physician in the Washington, D.C. area. But while he's cautious about ensuring the proper delivery of that message, Jain said he "absolutely endorses" the big-check idea as a practical method for American doctors to perhaps finally convince certain overweight men to trim the fat.

"Are we doing a good job winning this obesity battle? No, we're losing. Clearly, we’ve tried different methods as physicans and health professionals to get the message out to lose weight," Jain said.

"If it works, why not? Every patient has a different message that they can relate to. When it comes to male patients, they don’t see the doctor that often – women tend to go more than males. But when it comes to dealing with their private parts, if there's anything at all wrong down there, men do not hesitate to go see their doctor. So I think it's interesting that in the U.K., they’re using the sensitivity that males have in that area and leveraging it to promote weight loss."

In his Utah town of American Fork (ironic, given the topic of this story), Adam Torkildson admits the routing is part of his private health maintenance.

"I have used this test so many times I can't even count it anymore," said Torkildson, 29. "It works best while in the shower. While standing fully, you (drop your) head down about 80 to 90 degrees. If you can't see your junk, you've got some work to do."

As someone who earns a living in public relations and marketing, Torkildson agrees with Jain that an American version of "The Big Check" would catch on and help some men finally see their shortcomings - dietarily speaking.

"I love quirky campaigns like this," he said, "and I would love to see American campaigns surrounding this idea. It would be super fun, and probably do some really good things for male health." Jain, who writes health blog in addition to doctoring, already advocates a similar - yet less colorful - tactic for males to monitor their stomach girth as a gauge for potential illness. His commonly-used test involves wrapping a tape measure around the hips then comparing that distance to the number of inches if takes to loop the tape around the widest part of the buttocks. To do the math, divide your waist measurement by your hip measurement.

The National Institute of Diabetes reports that women with waist–hip ratios of more than 0.8, and men with more than 1.0, are at increased health risk because of their fat distribution. An ideal ratio is 0.7, Jaiin said.

"But who’s doing to sit down with a calculator and punch out numbers? That takes time," he added. "So why not create real reference points? "What I like about this (junk check) is, while it may be a crude judging tool, it's certainly not a bad eyeball test."

Tofu-tastic: David Wayne Fish on how to make soft tacos with scrambled tofu and tomatoes

Many of you might frown at the mention of tofu but David Wayne Fish here thinks that the only reason why people are not in love with the idea of eating tofu is they don’t know how to cook it and make it taste good. Turning this white brick of pure protein into something scrumptious is actually really easy.

David Fish. Image Credit: s3.amazonaws.com

Tofu, a great source of other minerals such as magnesium, iron, and selenium, also makes a wonderful stand-in for scrambled eggs and meat. I chanced upon this great tofu recipe for tacos with tomatoes and tofu, which I recommend my readers to try:

Ingredients:
• 1 14-ounce can of tomatoes, drained
• 2 large garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
• 1 serrano or jalapeño chile, chopped and seeded, if desired (Because I, David Wayne Fish, like things really hot, I need more of these.)
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 1 small or 1/2 medium onion, chopped
• 1 teaspoon lightly toasted cumin seeds, ground
• salt to taste
• 1 12-ounce box medium or firm silken tofu, drained
• soy sauce to taste
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
• 8 corn tortillas
• salsa

David Fish. Image Credit: oldwaystable.files.wordpress.com

Okay, what you need to do first is put the tomatoes, garlic, and chile in a blender and blend them until smooth. Put a skillet over medium heat and cook the onions on it for about 5 minutes. Increase the heat to medium-high and add the cumin. Stir and put in the blended tomato mixture when the pan is quite hot. For another 5 minutes, cook and stir the mixture until the sauce is thick, dark, and fragrant. Add salt to taste.

David Wayne Fish is a mountaineer and athlete hailing from Fresno, California.

Add the tofu to the pan and smash it into the sauce using the back of your spoon. Pour in the soy sauce, cook for 5 more minutes, and stir in the cilantro. Heat the tortillas and top with the tofu mixture, with salsa on the side.

David Fish. Image Credit: nytimes.com

And just like that, you’re ready to have savory and healthy tacos for breakfast!

Want more tips on how to be fit and healthy? Follow David Wayne Fish on Twitter.