Category: Exercise

Categories : Exercise Injury & TraumaTags :

Everything We Thought About Running Injury Development Was Wrong, Study Shows

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Photo by Barbara Olsen on Pexels

A new study from Aarhus University turns our understanding of how running injuries occur upside down. The research project, published in The BMJ, is the largest of its kind ever conducted and involves over 5000 participants. It shows that running-related overuse injuries do not develop gradually over time, as previously assumed, but rather suddenly – often during a single training session.

“Our study marks a paradigm shift in understanding the causes of running-related overuse injuries. We previously believed that injuries develop gradually over time, but it turns out that many injuries occur because runners make training errors in a single training session,” explains Associate Professor Rasmus Ø. Nielsen from the Department of Public Health at Aarhus University, who is the lead author of the study.

The study followed 5205 runners from 87 countries over 18 months and shows that injury risk increases exponentially when runners increase their distance in a single training session compared to their longest run in the past 30 days. The longer the run becomes, the higher the injury risk.

Incorrect guidance for millions of runners

According to Rasmus Ø. Nielsen, the results cast critical light on how the tech industry has implemented so-called “evidence.” Millions of sports watches worldwide are equipped with software that guides runners about their training – both for training optimisation and injury prevention.

However, the algorithm used for injury prevention is built on very thin scientific grounds, according to Rasmus Ø. Nielsen.

“This concretely means that millions of runners receive incorrect guidance from their sports watches every day. They think they are following a scientific method to avoid injuries, but in reality they are using an algorithm that cannot predict injury risk at all,” he says.

Non-existing evidence behind guidance

The current algorithm, called “Acute:Chronic Workload Ratio” (ACWR), was introduced in 2016 and is now implemented in equipment from companies that produce sports watches, while organisations and clinicians, such as physiotherapists, also use the algorithm.

The ACWR algorithm calculates the ratio between acute load (last week’s training) and chronic load (average of the past 3 weeks). The algorithm recommends a maximum 20% increase in training load to minimise injury risk.

According to Rasmus Ø. Nielsen, the algorithm was originally developed for team sports and was based on a study with 28 participants. Due to the few participants in the study combined with data manipulation, the evidence base for using the algorithm to prevent running injuries is therefore “non-existent.”

Realtime guidance

The research team has therefore worked for the past eight years to develop a new algorithm that will be much better at preventing injuries for runners.

Rasmus Ø. Nielsen emphasises that he and the other researchers behind the study have no commercial interests in launching a new algorithm as a potential replacement for a method he himself criticises.

The algorithm will be made freely available to runners, companies, clinicians and organisations who can use it actively to guide training and injury prevention.

Rasmus Ø. Nielsen hopes that the new insights will be implemented in existing technology.

“I imagine, for example, that sports watches with our algorithm will be able to guide runners in real-time during a run and give an alarm if they run a distance where injury risk is high. Like a traffic light that gives green light if injury risk is low; yellow light if injury risk increases and red light when injury risk becomes high,” explains Rasmus Ø. Nielsen.

Source: Aarhus University

Categories : ExerciseTags :

An Early Night is Linked to More Physical Activity than Burning the Midnight Oil

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Photo by Ketut Subiyanto on Unsplash

Going to bed earlier than usual may help to optimise physical activity the following day, Monash University-led research has found.

Published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the study examined whether sleep duration and sleep timing were associated with the duration of moderate-to-vigorous and overall physical activity the following day.

In the primary study, almost 20 000 participants wore a validated biometric device (WHOOP) for one year, resulting in almost six million nights of data. Objective sleep and physical activity metrics were derived from the wrist-worn device.

The study examined how both typical sleep habits and nightly fluctuations in sleep were linked to next-day physical activity levels.

On average, people who went to bed earlier were more physically active. For example, those with a typical bedtime around 9pm logged about 30 more minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity each day compared to those who regularly stayed up until 1am.

Even compared to those who typically went to bed at 11pm (the average bedtime for the entire sample), the 9pm sleepers recorded nearly 15 additional minutes of daily moderate-to-vigorous physical activity.

Lead author Dr Josh Leota, from Monash University’s School of Psychological Sciences, said the findings suggested individuals with later bedtimes may be at a disadvantage under conventional work schedules.

“Standard 9-to-5 routines can clash with the natural sleep preferences of evening types, leading to social jetlag, poorer sleep quality, and increased daytime sleepiness – which can all reduce motivation and opportunity for physical activity the next day,” Dr Leota said.

Importantly, the study also looked at whether individuals can actively alter this relationship. The researchers found that when people went to sleep earlier than usual but still got their typical amount of sleep, they recorded the highest levels of physical activity the next day.

“These insights carry meaningful implications for public health,” Dr Leota said. “Rather than just promoting sleep and physical activity independently, health campaigns could encourage earlier bedtimes to naturally foster more active lifestyles. A holistic approach that recognises how these two essential behaviours interact may lead to better outcomes for individual and community health.”

An additional validation study involving almost 6000 participants from the All of Us Research Program, using Fitbit data, reinforced these findings, showing the relationships were broadly consistent across diverse populations.

Senior author Dr Elise Facer-Childs, from the Monash University School of Psychological Sciences, said that these findings highlight a powerful relationship between sleep timing and physical activity.

“Sleep and physical activity are both critical to health, but until now we didn’t fully grasp how intricately connected they are in everyday life,” Dr Facer-Childs said.

“Our findings are consistent across different populations, and show that if you can get to sleep earlier than usual whilst keeping your sleep duration the same, you may be more likely to increase your physical activity the following day”, says Dr Facer-Childs.

Read the research paper here: DOI 10.1073/pnas.2420846122

Source: Monash University

Categories : Exercise Neurodegenerative DiseasesTags :

Exercise Activates Cells that Protect Against Alzheimer’s

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Photo by Barbara Olsen on Pexels

Using advanced single-nuclei RNA sequencing (snRNA-seq) and a widely used preclinical model for Alzheimer’s disease, researchers from Mass General Brigham and collaborators at SUNY Upstate Medical University have identified specific brain cell types that responded most to exercise. These findings, which were validated in samples from humans, shed light on the connection between exercise and brain health and point to future drug targets. Results are published in Nature Neuroscience.

“While we’ve long known that exercise helps protect the brain, we didn’t fully understand which cells were responsible or how it worked at a molecular level,” said senior author Christiane Wrann, DVM, PhD, a neuroscientist at Massachusetts General Hospital. “Now, we have a detailed map of how exercise impacts each major cell type in the memory centre of the brain in Alzheimer’s disease.”

Brain support cells—astrocytes enriched in the protein cadherin-4 (CDH4)
Scientists identified a distinct subtype of brain support cells—astrocytes enriched in the protein cadherin-4 (CDH4), shown in magenta, that seem to protect nerve cells against cell death. In Alzheimer’s disease, these cells become less abundant, but exercise seems to strengthen them. (Image credit: Luis Moreira)

The study focused on a part of the hippocampus – a critical region for memory and learning that is damaged early in Alzheimer’s disease. The research team leveraged single-nuclei RNA sequencing, a relatively new technologies that allow researchers to look at activity at the molecular level in single cells for an in-depth understanding of diseases like Alzheimer’s.

The researchers exercised a common mouse model for Alzheimer’s disease using running wheels, which improved their memory compared to the sedentary counterparts. They then analysed gene activity across thousands of individual brain cells, finding that exercise changed activity both in microglia, a disease-associated population of brain cells, and in a specific type of neurovascular-associated astrocyte (NVA), newly discovered by the team, which are cells associated with blood vessels in the brain. Furthermore, the scientist identified the metabolic gene Atpif1 as an important regulator to create new neurons in the brain. “That we were able to modulate newborn neurons using our new target genes set underscores the promise our study,” said lead author Joana Da Rocha, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow working in Dr Wrann’s lab.

To ensure the findings were relevant to humans, the team validated their discoveries in a large dataset of human Alzheimer’s brain tissue, finding striking similarities.

“This work not only sheds light on how exercise benefits the brain but also uncovers potential cell-specific targets for future Alzheimer’s therapies,” said Nathan Tucker, a biostatistician at SUNY Upstate Medical University and co-senior of the study. “Our study offers a valuable resource for the scientific community investigating Alzheimer’s prevention and treatment.”

Source: Mass General Brigham

Categories : Cardiovascular Disease ExerciseTags :

The Effect of Physical Fitness on Mortality is Overestimated

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Many observational studies have shown that people who exercise more and have good cardiorespiratory fitness early in life are at lower risk of premature death from causes such as cancer and cardiovascular disease. But a new study published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology suggests that the association between physical fitness and a reduced risk of mortality may be misleading.

“We found that people with high fitness levels in late adolescence had a lower risk of dying prematurely, for example from cardiovascular disease, compared to those with low fitness levels. But when we looked at their risk of dying in random accidents, we found an almost similarly strong association. This suggests that people with high and low fitness levels may differ in other important ways, which is something that previous studies have not fully taken into account,” says Marcel Ballin, associated researcher in epidemiology and lead author of the study.

Conscription data from over 1 million men

In the study, the researchers leveraged data from 1.1 million Swedish men who were conscripted for military service between the years 1972 and 1995. The men, who were on average 18 years old at the time of conscription, were divided into five groups based on their fitness level at the time. They were then followed until their 60s or until they died. With access to the National Cause of Death Register, the researchers were able to see their cause of death. They subsequently used different methods to study the association between fitness level in late adolescence and premature death.

The researchers started with a traditional analysis of mortality from cardiovascular disease, cancer and from all causes, as in previous observational studies. They adjusted their statistical models for factors such as BMI, age at conscription, year of conscription, and parents’ income and education level. The results showed that the group with the highest fitness level had a 58% lower risk of dying from cardiovascular disease, a 31% lower risk of dying from cancer, and a 53% lower risk of dying from all causes, compared with the group with the lowest fitness level.

Very similar risk of dying in random accidents

Next, the researchers examined how fitness was associated with the risk of dying in random accidents such as car accidents, drownings and homicides. They chose random accidents because they assumed that there ought to be no association between the men’s fitness in late adolescence and the risk of dying in random accidents. This method is called negative control outcome analysis and involves testing the validity of your results for a primary outcome by comparing them with an outcome where no association ought to be found. If, however, an association is found, it may indicate that the groups studied are not actually comparable, and that the study suffers from what is typically referred to as confounding. The researchers found that men with the highest fitness levels had a 53% lower risk of dying in random accidents. Yet, it is unlikely that the men’s fitness would have such a big effect on their risk of dying in random accidents.

These results were also confirmed when the researchers used the sibling comparison design. Using this method, the researchers compared the risk of premature death between siblings with different fitness levels to control for all the factors that the siblings share such as behaviours, environmental factors, and some genetic factors.

“It surprised us that the association with accidental mortality reflected the other associations, even after we controlled for all the factors that siblings share. This underlines how strong the assumptions are that you make in observational studies, since it appears to be very difficult to create comparable groups. The consequences may be that you overestimate the magnitudes of the effects you find,” says Marcel Ballin.

Picture confirmed in other studies

The study is one of the largest of its kind in which researchers used negative control outcomes to investigate whether the associations between fitness and mortality are in fact valid. The results in this study are also supported by other research.

“That the effects of good cardiorespiratory fitness may be overstated might sound controversial to some, but the fact is that if you look at the results from studies others than traditional observational studies, a more nuanced picture does emerge. A number of twin studies for example have found similar results. Some genetic studies also suggest that there are genes that affect both the propensity to be physically active or have a good fitness level, and the risk of developing diseases such as cardiovascular disease.”

Important to base interventions on correct estimates

Marcel Ballin also argues that there are many different reasons for promoting physical activity. However, large-scale interventions or policy changes intended to apply to the entire population must be based on reliable estimates – otherwise there is a risk of expecting effects that have in fact been overestimated.

“Our results should not be interpreted as if physical activity and exercise are ineffective or that you should not try to promote it. But to create a more nuanced understanding of how big the effects of fitness actually are on different outcomes, we need to use several different methods. If we just ask the question in the same way, we will always get the same answer. It’s only when we get the same answer to a question that we have asked in slightly different ways that we can be sure that the findings are accurate,” says Marcel Ballin.

Source: Uppsala University

Categories : ExerciseTags :

Research Finds New Explanation for Muscle Memory in Muscle Proteins

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Memory traces from resistance training persist for over two months

Photo by John Arano on Unsplash

Researchers have found a possible new explanation for muscle memory by investigating thousands of muscle proteins. This study by the Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences at the University of Jyväskylä showed for the first time that muscles “remember” training at the protein level. The memory trace of previous resistance training persists in muscle proteins for over two months.

It is often thought that the effects of exercise are short-lived, and a break from the gym for just a few weeks can cause stress over muscle loss for some people. However, the research from the University of Jyväskylä has shown that this stress is partly unnecessary, as the effects of resistance training persist in muscles for up to two months and the gains are fast when training is started again after the break. But what mechanisms and changes at the cellular and molecular levels explain muscle memory? This is what the researchers investigated by studying the quantities of thousands of muscle proteins from muscle.

In the study, ten weeks of resistance training was followed by a break of the same length and then followed by another ten weeks of resistance training. Using the proteomics method, it was possible to simultaneously study the quantities of over 3,000 muscle proteins using advanced mass spectrometry equipment.

Training gets encoded into muscle proteins

The study found two types of change profiles in muscle proteins.

Some proteins changed as a result of training, returned to their pre-training state during the break, and changed again during the new training period similarly to the first training period. These included proteins related to aerobic metabolism.

Another group of proteins changed as a result of training and remained changed during the break and after the new training period. Among these proteins were several calcium-binding proteins, such as calpain-2, whose gene has recently been identified to retain a memory trace even after a training break.

“At the level of the number of muscle nuclei and the memory traces of genes, that is, epigenetics, long-term responses that persist even after a break and possibly explain ‘muscle memory’ have previously been observed,” says the lead researcher, Professor Juha Hulmi from the Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences. 

“Now, for the first time, we have shown that muscles ‘remember’ previous resistance training at the protein level for at least two and a half months.”

“So, even though muscles eventually shrink back to their original size during a long training break, a memory trace of previous training remains in the muscles. This can make it easier to start training again”, explains Hulmi.

The  data collection was carried out at the Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä. The participants were young adult and middle-aged Finnish men and women who were physically quite active but had no previous experience of systematic resistance training. Proteomic analyses were conducted on 116 muscle samples at the University of Helsinki in the laboratory of research director Markku Varjosalo.   

Source: University of Jyväskylä

Categories : ExerciseTags :

Are High Support Bras Bad for the Back?

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Photo by John Arano on Unsplash

Research from the University of Portsmouth suggests that bras offering excessive bounce reduction may come with hidden consequences for spinal health.

Sports bras are extremely popular in the health and fitness world, with the bra industry often emphasising “bounce reduction” as a key indicator of a bra’s performance. However, a new study suggests that high-support bras that significantly reduce breast bounce could have a detrimental effect on the spine.

Published in the European Journal of Sport Science, the preliminary research revealed that bras designed to prevent breast bounce during exercise may unknowingly cause potential unseen consequences on the musculoskeletal system.

Dr Chris Mills and a team from the School of Psychology, Sport and Health Sciences at the University of Portsmouth employed advanced tools – including motion capture, force platforms, and a 3D surface scanner – to investigate the effects of breast movement on spinal rotational forces. Using a first-of-its-kind whole-body, female-specific musculoskeletal model, the study examined how varying levels of breast support influenced torso motion, breast forces, and spinal moments during running.

The findings revealed that while sports bras are essential for reducing breast pain during exercise, achieving 100 percent bounce reduction could unintentionally increase loading on the spine. 

Simulated conditions showed that bras eliminating breast movement led to higher spinal moments, which could elevate the risk of lumbar back pain. Researchers emphasised the importance of striking an optimal balance in bra design; reducing breast bounce without overloading the spine.

r Mills said: “While a supportive sports bra is crucial for exercise comfort, excessive bounce reduction may place additional strain on spinal muscles, increasing the risk of back pain.”

The study, built on two decades of research by the University’s Research Group in Breast Health, highlights the need for bra manufacturers to consider the unseen musculoskeletal impacts on the human body in their designs. Professor Wakefield-Scurr, often referred to as the ‘Bra Professor’, added, “These findings suggest that striving for maximum bounce reduction may inadvertently pose challenges to spinal health during activities like running.

“As sports bras evolve, this study challenges industry leaders to innovate designs that balance comfort, breast support, and holistic health, ensuring that bounce reduction doesn’t come at a cost to spinal health.”

The creation of a subject-specific female musculoskeletal model enabled researchers to gain a detailed understanding and approximation of changes in spinal moments, following simulated changes in breast motion during running.

Previous research by the Portsmouth team used the model to predict changes in spinal moments after breast surgery. 

“The musculoskeletal model could become a useful tool in predicting appropriate and personalised rehabilitation recommendations, which could help ease the loading on the spine after breast surgeries”, explained Dr Mills.

“Understanding the individual muscular contributions will help to develop personalised pre-surgical rehabilitation programs as well as bras that work in tandem with each female body to maximise performance and reduce injury risk.

“Moving forward the key goal is to determine what is the optimal amount of bounce reduction to both reduce exercise induced breast pain and also the internal loading on the spine during physical activity.”

Source: University of Portsmouth

Categories : Exercise NeurologyTags :

Myelin Becomes a Nutrient of Last Resort for the Brain

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Myelin sheath damage. Credit: Scientific Animations CC4.0

According to a study published by Nature Metabolism, marathon runners experience reversible changes in their brain myelin. These findings indicate that myelin exhibits previously unknown behaviour, which contributes towards the brain’s energy metabolism when other sources of energy are running low. Understanding how myelin in the runners recovers quickly may provide clues for developing treatments for demyelinating diseases such as multiple sclerosis.

Exercise for a long period of time forces the human body to resort to its energy reserves. When running a marathon, for example, the body mainly consumes carbohydrates, such as glycogen, as a source of energy, but it resorts to fats when the glycogen in the muscles is used up. Myelin, which surrounds neurons in the brain and acts as an electrical insulator, mainly comprises lipids, and previous research in rodents suggests that these lipids can act as an energy reserve in extreme metabolic conditions.

A study conducted by researchers from the UPV/EHU, CIC biomaGUNE and IIS Biobizkaia shows that people who run a marathon experience a decrease in the amount of myelin in certain regions of the brain. According to the study, this effect is completely reversed two months after the marathon.

Carlos Matute, Professor of Anatomy and Human Embriology at the UPV/EHU and a researcher at IIS Biobizkaia, and Pedro Ramos-Cabrer, Ikerbasque Research Professor at CIC biomaGUNE, together with Alberto Cabrera-Zubizarreta, radiologist at HT Médica, used magnetic resonance imaging to obtain images of the brains of ten marathon runners (eight men and two women) before and 48 hours after the 42-kilometre race. Likewise, the researchers took images of the brains of two of the runners two weeks after the race, and of six runners two months after the race as a follow-up.

By measuring the fraction of myelin water in the brain – an indirect indicator of the amount of myelin – the authors discovered “a reduction in the myelin content in 12 areas of white matter in the brain, which are related to motor coordination and sensory and emotional integration”, explained Carlos Matute. Two weeks later, “the myelin concentrations had increased substantially, but had not yet reached pre-race levels”, added Pedro Ramos. The authors saw that the myelin content had recovered fully two months after the marathon.

Myelin, the brain’s fuel

The researchers concluded that “myelin seems to act as an energy source when other brain nutrients are depleted during endurance exercise, and that further research is needed to establish how extreme exercise is related to the amount of myelin in the brain. Trials in a larger cohort are needed”, said Ramos-Cabrer.

This study reveals that “brain energy metabolism is more complex than previously thought. The use of myelin as brain fuel opens up new insights into the brain’s energy requirements”, explained Matute. Furthermore, according to the authors, more studies are needed to assess whether these changes exert any effect on the neurophysiological and cognitive functions associated with these regions, but they point out that most of the myelin in the brain is not affected.

The results of this work break new ground in the energy role of healthy, aging and diseased myelin in the brain. “Understanding how the myelin in the runners recovers quickly may provide clues for developing treatments for demyelinating diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, in which the disappearance of myelin and, therefore, of its energy contribution, facilitates structural damage and degeneration,” said Matute. At the same time, the researchers are keen to stress that running marathons is not harmful for the brain; “on the contrary, the use and replacement of myelin as an energy reserve is beneficial because this exercises the brain’s metabolic machinery”.

Source: University of the Basque Country

Categories : ExerciseTags :

Any Form of Exercise can Significantly Boost Brain Function

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Research findings are good news for couch potatoes

Photo by RDNE Stock project

Whether it’s an early morning jog, or a touch of Tai Chi, groundbreaking research from the University of South Australia shows that any form of exercise can significantly boost brain function and memory across children, adults, and older adults.

In the largest, most comprehensive umbrella review to date, researchers found that regular exercise improves general cognition, memory, and executive function in both healthy individuals and those with clinical conditions, reinforcing exercise as an essential, inclusive activity for optimising cognitive health. The review appears in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

Synthesising findings from 133 systematic reviews, covering 2724 randomised controlled trials and 258 279 participants, the systematic umbrella and meta-meta-analysis found that:

  • low- to moderate-intensity exercise had the greatest benefits for brain function and memory
  • children and adolescents showed the greatest improvements in memory, while people with ADHD saw the biggest gains in executive function
  • yoga, Tai Chi, and exergames (active video games) delivered the most significant cognitive benefits.

Lead researcher, UniSA’s Dr Ben Singh, says the findings provide a comprehensive understanding of how different types, intensities, and durations of exercise influence cognitive function.

“Exercise has a profound effect on physical health, but we also know it benefits brain function. What this study confirms is that even low-intensity exercise – like yoga or walking – can improve cognition, making it accessible to people of all ages and abilities,” Dr Singh says.

“In particular, we found that benefits were delivered quickly – with clear gains within 1-3 months, highlighting that even small bursts of activity can make a big difference. It also signals that trying out new activities could play a key role in keeping the brain engaged and active.

“For children and teens, exercise was especially beneficial for developing memory, while for people with ADHD, it helped improve focus, reduce impulsivity, and enhance executive function.

“We also found that mind-body exercises, like Tai Chi and yoga, had the most significant impact on memory, while exergames – such as Pokémon Go – were highly effective for general cognition. This is an encouraging finding, as it suggests that engaging, low-impact activities can offer real cognitive benefits.”

Senior researcher, Professor Carol Maher says exercise should be encouraged as a cognitive health strategy across all ages and fitness levels.

“Cognitive decline and neurodegenerative diseases are growing global health concerns, underscoring the urgent need to identify effective strategies to preserve and enhance cognitive function across the lifespan,” Prof Maher says.

“This study presents compelling evidence that exercise should be integrated into healthcare and education settings to promote cognitive well-being.

“Knowing that even small amounts of exercise can improve memory and brain function – especially for those at higher risk – presents a clear opportunity for exercise to be included in clinical and public health guidelines.”

Source: University of South Australia

Categories : Cardiovascular Disease ExerciseTags :

Preventable Cardiac Deaths during Marathons are Down

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Photo by Barbara Olsen on Pexels

While more people than ever are running marathons in the U.S., the risk of dying from a heart attack during a run has fallen dramatically in recent years. That’s a key conclusion from a new study by Jonathan Kim, associate professor in the Emory School of Medicine. Kim’s research is a follow-up to a study he published in 2012 — the first investigation into unexpected cardiac arrests during long distance running events.

The new findings, published in JAMA, indicate that, while the rate of marathon runners who suffer cardiac arrests remained unchanged, their chance for survival is twice what it was in the past. Far fewer marathon runners who suffer cardiac arrest are now dying of it.

“We continue to see media reports about unfortunate cases of cardiac arrest during long distance running events,” Kim says. “But, has the incidence of these events changed? Have there been changes in the most common causes of cardiac arrest? What are the factors associated with death and survival? It was a novel question to ask 13 years after our first analysis, and an important one because recreational running continues to increase in popularity.”

The challenge of finding data

More than 29 million people completed marathons in the U.S. between 2010 and 2023, triple the number of the previous decade, which Kim examined in his first study. There’s no central registry of race-related cardiac events, so for both studies, his team had to find their data through a range of sources, starting by contacting individual race directors.

“We leveraged a few sources including a comprehensive review of media reports,” Kim says. “We also had contact information for all race directors and were able to reach approximately 70% of them who helped and told us the number of events during this specific timeline, including if the individual died and the sex of the participant.”

The researchers used extensive public internet searches to identify and reach out to runners who survived cardiac arrests or next-of-kin to construct detailed profiles of as many cases as possible. “The vast majority of cases were identifiable by public search engines. And all of the deaths were as well,” he says.

Analyzing this extensive database, Kim found that while the rate of cardiac arrests was about the same during the two periods — .60 per 100 000 participants now versus .54 per 100 000 participants in the earlier period — the rate of deaths from these cases, however, fell by half: from .39 per 100 000 to .19 per 100 000. That’s about a 50% decline in the death rate since 2000–2009. As before, cardiac arrests remained far more common among men than among women and more common in marathons than half marathons.

The sport’s growing awareness of cardiac death risk

What led to the dramatic change in death rates? Kim thinks the whole sport has become more aware of the risks and of the need to have emergency services available to runners, a conclusion he reached after interviewing as many survivors as he could find. “What we found was that every one of those people got hands-on cardiopulmonary resuscitation, but the vast majority also had immediate access to an automated external defibrillator. That’s the difference,” he says.

That survival rate is comparable to the cardiac arrest survival rate in other public places that now make defibrillators routinely available such as airport and casinos, which have seen similar declines in deaths.

Kim says his findings offer additional evidence of how important it is to make CPR training available to race participants and to strategically place defibrillators along the racecourse. It’s also important, he says, to better identify the most vulnerable in a population before they run a race.

“These are more often potentially preventable events,” he says. “Being able to identify people, more commonly older individuals with unrecognized cardiovascular risk factors, doesn’t mean they can’t run a race. Rather, it affords the opportunity to improve primary preventive cardiovascular care and potentially further reduce the risk of cardiac arrest during these events. The incidence of sudden cardiac arrest during long-distance races hasn’t changed in over twenty years. I think this is an important arena of future research.”

Source: Emory Health Sciences

Categories : Cancer ExerciseTags :

Can Exercise Help Reduce Survival Disparities in Colon Cancer Survivors?

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Study indicates that higher levels of physical activity may lessen and even eliminate survival disparities.

Photo by Barbara Olsen on Pexels

Physical activity may help colon cancer survivors achieve long-term survival rates similar to those of people in the general population, according to a recent study published by Wiley online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society.

Individuals with colon cancer face higher rates of premature mortality than people in the general population with matched characteristics such as age and sex. To assess whether exercise might reduce this disparity, investigators analysed data from two posttreatment trials in patients with stage 3 colon cancer, with a total of 2875 patients who self-reported physical activity after cancer surgery and chemotherapy. The researchers also examined data on a matched general population from the National Center for Health Statistics. For all participants, physical activity was based on metabolic equivalent (MET) hours per week. (Health guidelines recommend 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per week, translating to approximately 8 MET-hours/week.)

In the analysis of data from the first trial (called CALGB 89803), for patients who were alive at three years after cancer treatment, those with <3.0 MET-hours/week had subsequent 3-year overall survival rates that were 17.1% lower than the matched general population, but those with ≥18.0 MET-hours/week had only 3.5% lower subsequent 3-year overall survival rates than the matched general population. In the second trial (CALGB 80702), among patients who were alive at three years, those with <3.0 and ≥18.0 MET-hours/week had subsequent 3-year overall survival rates that were 10.8% and 4.4% lower than the matched general population, respectively.

In pooled analyses of the two trials, among the 1908 patients who were alive and did not have cancer recurrence by year three, those with <3.0 and ≥18.0 MET-hours/week had subsequent 3-year overall survival rates that were 3.1% lower and 2.9% higher than the matched general population, respectively. Therefore, cancer survivors who were tumour-free by year three and regularly exercised achieved even better subsequent survival rates than those seen in the matched general population.

“This new information can help patients with colon cancer understand how factors that they can control—their physical activity levels—can have a meaningful impact on their long-term prognosis,” said lead author Justin C. Brown, PhD, of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center and the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center. “Also, medical and public health personnel and policymakers are always seeking new ways to communicate the benefits of a healthy lifestyle. Quantifying how physical activity may enable a patient with colon cancer to have a survival experience that approximates their friends and family without cancer could be a simple but powerful piece of information that can be leveraged to help everyone understand the health benefits of physical activity.”

Source: Wiley