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How much physical activity is needed for health?

How much physical activity is needed for health?

Everyone can benefit from increasing physical activity and reducing sedentary behaviour, including older adults living with chronic conditions or disability. These recommendations are relevant to all, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, income level, or functional ability.

Every move counts, as any amount of physical activity is better than none, and more is generally better. Benefits can be gained from even low levels of activity and everyone should be encouraged to start slowly and increase their regular physical activity.

All physical activity counts and can be undertaken in many different ways that contribute to the health benefits and across multiple settings. For example, walking and cycling, every-day household tasks, gardening, dancing, exercise, and sport all count as physical activity.

It’s never too late to start being active, and certain activities, such as multicomponent exercises done as part of weekly physical activity can help prevent falls among older adults.

Too much sedentary behaviour can be unhealthy and can increase the risk of obesity, poorer fitness and cardiometabolic health and behaviour, and affect sleep duration. Limiting and replacing sedentary time with physical activity of any intensity provides health benefits.

(Source: OMS 2023)

The wellbeing secrets: movement and interpersonal relationship

Xu X., Mishra G.D., Holt-Lunstad J., et al. Social relationship satisfaction and accumulation of chronic conditions and multimorbidity: a national cohort of Australian women General Psychiatry 2023;36.

Background Social relationships are associated with mortality and chronic conditions. However, little is known about the effects of social relationship satisfaction on multiple chronic conditions (multimorbidity).

Aims To examine whether social relationship satisfaction is associated with the accumulation of multimorbidity.

Methods Data from 7 694 Australian women who were free from 11 chronic conditions at 45–50 years of age in 1996 were analysed. Five types of social relationship satisfaction (partner, family members, friends, work and social activities) were measured approximately every 3 years and scored from 0 (very dissatisfied) to 3 (very satisfied). Scores from each relationship type were summed to provide an overall satisfaction score (range: ≤5–15). The outcome of interest was the accumulation of multimorbidity in 11 chronic conditions.

Results Over a 20-year period, 4 484 (58.3%) women reported multimorbidities. Overall, the level of social relationship satisfaction had a dose–response relationship with the accumulation of multimorbidities. Compared with women reporting the highest satisfaction (score 15), women with the lowest satisfaction (score ≤5) had the highest odds of accumulating multimorbidity (odds ratio (OR)= 2.35, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.94 to 2.83) in the adjusted model. Similar results were observed for each social relationship type. Other risk factors, such as socioeconomic, behavioural and menopausal status, together explained 22.72% of the association.

Conclusions Social relationship satisfaction is associated with the accumulation of multimorbidity, and the relationship is only partly explained by socioeconomic, behavioural and reproductive factors. Social connections (eg, satisfaction with social relationships) should be considered a public health priority in chronic disease prevention and intervention.

Better balance = longer life

To underscore the importance of the article published in June by Araujo, C. et al. (2022) “Successful 10-second one-legged stance performance predicts survival in middle-aged and older individuals” in the British Journal of Sports Medicine also Harvard Medical School underlines the relevance of this data for health namely the ability to remain for 10 seconds balanced on one leg writing:

A study published online June 21, 2022, by the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that people who are unable to stand on one leg for 10 seconds in middle and later life have almost double the usual risk of premature death. Researchers evaluated the health information and balance test results of 1,700 people (ages 51 to 75, and all free of walking problems), and then followed them for seven years. During the study, 123 participants died of various causes. After taking participants’ age, underlying conditions, weight, and other factors into account, scientists determined that failing the balance test was associated with an 84% higher risk of dying within the study period, compared with passing the balance test. The study was observational and found only an association (not a cause-and-effect relationship) between balance ability and early death. But if you want to give the test a try, it happens also to be a good way to boost balance — which reduces your risk of falls, regardless of any possible effect on longevity. Here’s what to do: Stand near a counter (for support if necessary). To balance on your left leg, keep your arms at your sides and slowly place the top of your right foot on your left calf. Stand that way for 10 seconds. Then repeat, reversing leg positions. Practice every day, and see how much your balance improves”.

It’s time to promote the athletes’ and coaches’ mental health

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!

Immagine

Immagine

Move and think

Why Your Brain Needs Exercise

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.

First money and second athletes’ health

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.

Risultati immagini per maratona donne doha

Walk as a tool to be health

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

Risultati immagini per Large-scale physical activity data reveal worldwide activity inequality

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.

The deadly risk of the sedentary life

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.”

No walk, no health

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.

 

10 healthy rules to feel ourselves mentally and physically fit

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 .

  1. Enjoy the work to be fit
  2. Build a peaceful mind
  3. Breath to feel your body
  4. Visualize your wellness
  5. Listen the heart calm and when working full of energy
  6. Image what you do before to do it
  7. Be your breathing
  8. Feel the body flexibility
  9. Be linked to the good mood
  10. Be grateful to yourself for what you do