The NGO of Athletic in UK are working with Believe Perform to create new online resources for athletes, coaches and parents around mental health and performance.
Great news!
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The evolutionary history of humans explains why physical activity is important for brain health
David A. Reichlen and Gene E. Alexander, Scientific American, January 1, 2020
Brief synthesis
“Why does exercise affect the brain at all?
Physical activity improves the function of many organ systems in the body, but the effects are usually linked to better athletic performance.
Instead exercise seems to be as much a cognitive activity as a physical one. In fact, this link between physical activity and brain health may trace back millions of years to the origin of hallmark traits of humankind. If we can better understand why and how exercise engages the brain, perhaps we can leverage the relevant physiological pathways to design novel exercise routines that will boost people’s cognition as they age—work that we have begun to undertake.
… we demonstrated that people who spent more time engaged in moderate to vigorous physical activity had larger hippocampal volumes.
Researchers have also documented clear links between aerobic exercise and benefits to other parts of the brain, including expansion of the prefrontal cortex, which sits just behind the forehead. Such augmentation of this region has been tied to sharper executive cognitive functions, which involve aspects of planning, decision-making and multitasking—abilities that, like memory, tend to decline with healthy aging and are further degraded in the presence of Alzheimer’s. Scientists suspect that increased connections between existing neurons, rather than the birth of new neurons, are responsible for the beneficial effects of exercise on the prefrontal cortex and other brain regions outside the hippocampus.
If we can augment the effects of exercise by including a cognitively demanding activity, then perhaps we can increase the efficacy of exercise regimens aimed at boosting cognition during aging and potentially even alter the course of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s.
They found an additive effect: exercise alone was good for the hippocampus, but combining physical activity with cognitive demands in a stimulating environment was even better, leading to even more new neurons. Using the brain during and after exercise seemed to trigger enhanced neuron survival.”
… we recently showed that collegiate cross-country runners who train extensively on outdoor trails have increased connectivity among brain regions associated with executive cognitive functions compared with healthy but more sedentary young adults. Future work will help us understand whether these benefits are also greater than those seen in runners who train in less complex settings—on a treadmill, for instance.
What is happening at the World Athletics Championships in Doha is the proof that there are places where if not possible to compete. It is also clear that political and economic interests dominate the world of sport, so that for a long time the most important sporting events have often been organised in areas of the world where, because of the environmental conditions, athletes run serious risks to their health and are unable to provide performances corresponding to their level of competence.
In Doha, 40% of marathon runners retired and the final times of the best performers are worst than their best performances. Moreover, the marathon is certainly the race where these difficulties emerge most clearly but similar facts have happened in other performances on the track.
I don’t remember if any athletics federation protested against this assignment of the World Championship. On the other hand, it’s an old story. We remember that the matches of the 1970 Football World Cup in Mexico were played at an altitude of over 2000 meters and at hours impossible for heat and humidity but useful to be seen in TV in Europe.
There is no chance for the athletes, the only reaction would be not to participate but many do not have a the power to bring forward their rights. Only Eliud Kipchoge has not gone, because he is preparing the attempt to run the marathon in 1h59m in two weeks, financed by a big sponsor like Ineos.
Health strongly favored by:
- 10,000 is the minimum number of steps to do per day
- 150 are the minutes per week of moderate intensity physical activity
- 130 steps per minute is the ideal pace for a walk
- 100 are the walking steps per minute. 25 steps in 15 seconds
- 5 are the minutes to walk every hour
- The world don’t walk so much and the world average is 5.000 steps
- Warning: introduce changes to one’s habits through the adoption of habits tailored to one’s psychological and physical conditions and compatible with everyday life
Smartphone data from over 68 million days of activity by 717,527 individuals reveal variability in physical activity across the world.
a, World map showing variation in activity (mean daily steps) between countries measured through smartphone data from 111 countries with at least 100 users. Cool colours correspond to high activity (for example, Japan in blue) and warm colours indicate low levels of activity (for example, Saudi Arabia in orange).
b, Typical activity levels (distribution mode) differ between countries. Curves show distribution of steps across the population in four representative countries as a normalized probability density (high to low activity: Japan, UK, USA, Saudi Arabia). Vertical dashed lines indicate the mode of activity for Japan (blue) and Saudi Arabia (orange).
c, The variance of activity around the population mode differs between countries. Curves show distribution of steps across the population relative to the population mode. In Japan, the activity of 76% of the population falls within 50% of the mode (that is, between the light grey dashed lines), whereas in Saudi Arabia this fraction is only 62%. The UK and USA lie between these two extremes for average activity level and variance. This map is based on CIA World Data Bank II data, publicly available through the R package mapdata (https://www.r-project.org/).© 2017 Macmillan Publishers Limited, part of Springer Nature.
“Strong evidence shows that physical inactivity increases the risk of many adverse health conditions, including the world’s major non-communicable diseases (NCDs) of coronary heart disease (CHD), type 2 diabetes, and breast and colon cancers, and shortens life expectancy. Because much of the world’s population is inactive, this presents a major public health problem.
…
Worldwide, we estimate that physical inactivity is responsible for between 6% and 10% of the major NCDs of CHD, type 2 diabetes, and breast and colon cancers. And, this unhealthy behaviour is responsible for 9% of premature mortality, or >5.3 of the 57 million deaths in 2008. By eliminating physical inactivity, life expectancy of the world’s population may be expected to increase by 0.68 years. This makes inactivity comparable to the established risk factors of smoking and obesity, discussed below. It is important to interpret the added years of life correctly: they appear modest because they represent gains in the whole population (comprising inactive and active persons), not among inactive persons who become active. Because all the gain accrues to those who move from inactive to active, the increase in life expectancy among the inactive alone is greater. For perspective, other research conducted in the United States estimated that inactive persons would gain 1.3–3.7 added years from age 50 by becoming active. And, among East Asians, life expectancy from age 30 among the active was 2.6–4.2 years greater, compared with inactive persons.”
- “Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) kill 41 million people each year, equivalent to 71% of all deaths globally.
- Each year, 15 million people die from a NCD between the ages of 30 and 69 years; over 85% of these “premature” deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries.
- Cardiovascular diseases account for most NCD deaths, or 17.9 million people annually, followed by cancers (9.0 million), respiratory diseases (3.9million), and diabetes (1.6 million).
- These 4 groups of diseases account for over 80% of all premature NCD deaths.
- Tobacco use, physical inactivity, the harmful use of alcohol and unhealthy diets all increase the risk of dying from a NCD.
- Detection, screening and treatment of NCDs, as well as palliative care, are key components of the response to NCDs.
…
Modifiable behavioural risk factors
Modifiable behaviours, such as tobacco use, physical inactivity, unhealthy diet and the harmful use of alcohol, all increase the risk of NCDs.
- Tobacco accounts for over 7.2 million deaths every year (including from the effects of exposure to second-hand smoke), and is projected to increase markedly over the coming years.
- 4.1 million annual deaths have been attributed to excess salt/sodium intake.
- More than half of the 3.3 million annual deaths attributable to alcohol use are from NCDs, including cancer.
- 1.6 million deaths annually can be attributed to insufficient physical activity.”
In my opinion, the simple action of walking should become one of the main challenges of our near future. A sedentary lifestyle has certainly become the most widespread activity in our world dominated by machines and technology. We also know very well the damage caused by a sedentary lifestyle. Moving has become so important, as well as being not very often sufficiently practiced, so that smartwatches remind us of it imperatively every hour.
How much we walk has been showed by a research:
In USA, Americans take 5,117 steps a day, a distance of approximately 2.5 miles. That’s a significant shortfall compared to the averages in Western Australia (9,695), Switzerland (9,650), Switzerland (9,650) and Japan (7,168).
“It is interesting that these step counts are only about one-third of the values measured for men and women living in an Old Order Amish farming community in Ontario, Canada. Assuming that the labor-intensive farming lifestyle of the Amish reflects that of most North Americans in the mid-1800s, this suggests a marked decline in ambulatory activity over the last century and a half.”
Personally, I have an annual average of 11,988 steps a day, equal to 9,420km.
In our society, very often feeling fit is experienced as a duty, because our friends, the doctor or our partner ask us to be fit and we feel pushed to “do something” to not listen more those questions about why we do not want to do anything. Other times, however, it is the case of those who already practice in the gym to develop a mentality centered on the idea, that to feel good, we must do more and more and the results will be achieved only with pain and tiring sessions in which we challenge ourselves to reach the limit.
Neither of these two approaches to physical activity is of great help in promoting the pleasure of carrying out an activity without any other purpose than the desire to be physically and mentally fit and being at ease producing positive effects on one’s well-being, which are momentary but also lasting over time if carried out continuously. To motivate us to undertake and maintain this type of path it is important to know what we tell ourselves. Here are 10 rules, which represent 10 ways of doing that if acquired could support the choice and maintenance of a physically active lifestyle .
- Enjoy the work to be fit
- Build a peaceful mind
- Breath to feel your body
- Visualize your wellness
- Listen the heart calm and when working full of energy
- Image what you do before to do it
- Be your breathing
- Feel the body flexibility
- Be linked to the good mood
- Be grateful to yourself for what you do
It’s amazing for me how easy it would be to change our socially oriented sedentary lifestyle. Others, in this case in United Kingdom are developing a different culture and try to change it to a socially oriented wellness lifestyle that comes from the movement.
- Pedestrians from all walks of life – London’s streets should be welcoming places for everyone to walk, spend time in and engage in community life.
- People choose to walk, cycle and use public transport -Walking and cycling are the healthiest and most sustainable ways to travel, either for whole trips or as part of longer journeys on public transport. A successful transport system encourages and enables more people to walk and cycle more often. This will only happen if we reduce the volume and dominance of motor traffic and improve the experience of being on our streets.
- Clean air – Improving air quality delivers benefits for everyone and reduces unfair health inequalities.
- People feel safe – The whole community should feel comfortable and safe on our streets at all times. People should not feel worried about road danger or experience threats to their personal safety.
- Not too noisy – Reducing the noise impacts of motor traffic will directly benefit health,improve the ambience of street environments and encourage active travel and human interaction.
- Easy to cross – Making streets easier to cross is important to encourage more walking and to connect communities. People prefer direct routes and being able to cross streets at their convenience. Physical barriers and fast moving or heavy traffic can make streets difficult to cross.
- Places to stop and rest – A lack of resting places can limit mobility for certain groups of people. Ensuring there are places to stop and rest benefits everyone, including local businesses, as people will be more willing to visit, spend time in, or meet other people on our streets.
- Shade and shelter – Providing shade and shelter from high winds, heavy rain and direct sun enables everybody to use our streets, whatever the weather.
- People feel relaxed – A wider range of people will choose to walk or cycle if our streets are not dominated by motorised traffic, and if pavements and cycle paths are not overcrowded, dirty, cluttered or in disrepair.
- Things to see and do – People are more likely to use our streets when their journey is interesting and stimulating, with attractive views, buildings, planting and street art and where other people are using the street. They will be less dependent on cars if the shops and services they need are within short distances so they do not need to drive to get to them.
Embedding physical activity in the undergraduate healthcare curriculum is an important step to building capacity in the future workforce to promote physical activity, every contact.
This podcast features two UK medical schools and schools of health describing their approaches to upskilling tomorrow’s healthcare professionals, in physical activity, for tomorrow’s patients using the #MovementForMovement educational resources and a community of practice approach.
More about Ann Gates here: www.exercise-works.org/.
There was a moment back in August when Dale “Grey Beard” Sanders considered giving up.
In the middle of the 100-Mile Wilderness in Maine, far from help, he was bleeding internally and having heart palpitations — not surprising considering that he was 50 or 60 years older than most of the people he had met on the Appalachian Trail.
Sanders called his wife in Bartlett, Tenn., and she urged him to keep going. With a go-ahead from his doctors, he did, and on Thursday, Sanders, 82, officially became the oldest person to hike the entire 2,190-mile trail in a year.
