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Stay Strong to Increase Longevity

Here’s more motivation to stay on top of your functional strength training program. Researchers from China and Indiana University analyzed data from 4,449 older adults in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and found that older people with low muscle strength had more than twice the risk of dying during the study than those with normal muscle strength.

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Can a Short Bout of Cardio Affect Motor Skill Learning?

Fifteen minutes of aerobic exercise done immediately after practicing a new motor skill improves long-term retention of that skill, according to findings reported in NeuroImage (2018; doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.03.029). Lead study author Fabien Dal Maso, assistant professor at the University of Montreal, said, “This shows that exercise is not only good for the body; it is good for the brain.” Researchers conducted the study to explore brain mechanisms underlying motor learning and the impact of cardiovascular exercise on motor memory consolidation.

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Dehydration Impairs Cognitive Performance

Keep reminding clients to drink plenty of fluids. New research shows that cognitive abilities—attention, coordination, complex problem solving and reaction time—begin to decline with as little as 1% loss of body mass from dehydration, with more severe impairments showing up at 2%. Dehydration affects attention first and with more severity than other cognitive abilities.

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Healthy Habits Save Lives

A healthy lifestyle—including being physically active, eating a nutritious diet and not smoking—plays a significant role in living a longer, healthier life. This conclusion emerged from an observational study of 7,000 men and women aged 25–74 who were periodically assessed over a 35-year period. Researchers based the analysis on the American Heart Association’s definition of ideal cardiovascular health. This definition includes absence of clinical heart disease, together with positive outcomes on “Life’s Simple 7” health metrics:

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Moderate-Intensity Exercise Boosts Calorie Burning for an Entire Day

Need more convincing reasons to do a moderate-intensity workout on days when skipping training is attractive? New study findings show that energy expenditure increased for at least 22 hours after bouts of moderate-intensity (50% of peak) exercise, leading to an additional 64 (±119) kilocalories burned per day. Prior research had shown that high- but not moderate-intensity exercise increased resting energy expenditure.

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Hot Yoga May Provide Heat Stress Conditioning for Athletes

If you’re looking for a good cross-training technique for your more athletic clients, suggest they practice hot yoga, which may boost aerobic performance while minimizing exercise stress.

University of British Columbia, Vancouver, researchers recruited 10 elite female field hockey players for observation. All athletes participated in 60-minute hot-yoga classes (30 degrees Celsius/86 degrees Fahrenheit) over 6 consecutive days, during which they did not engage in any other exercise. Following the intervention, the athletes played in a national-team camp.

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Snowboarding: Injury Prevention & Performance

Over the past few decades, snowboarding has quickly become one of the fastest-evolving and most popular winter season sports. The impressive combination of power, velocity and technique make this activity appealing to both recreational riders and high-level competitors. But speed, terrain, gravity and the unique snowboard stance also create the potential for injury.

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Question of the Month

Popular Mediterranean diet study under fire: Do you still have confidence in published nutrition science?

Many people expect nutrition science to help them live a healthy, long life. Despite what often seems like contradictory advice (butter or no butter?), nutrition research has consistently presented a positive picture of the Mediterranean way of eating. But even mighty Med research isn’t immune to missteps.

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Fans of NFL Losers Are Fans of Fatty Food

Now that we are in the thick of football season, the jubilation or sadness that comes with rooting for the victors or the vanquished may influence eating behaviors come Monday. A study in the journal Psychological Science found that the outcome of an NFL game can alter fans’ eating habits a day later, for better or worse.

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Recipe: Walnut Eggplant Dip

There is even more evidence that you can eat walnuts to your heart’s content. Researchers at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health conducted a thorough review of 26 clinical trials with 1,059 subjects over a 25-year span, investigating the connection between walnut consumption and risk factors for cardiovascular disease, including blood lipid levels.

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Weight Gain Is Bad News for Our Gustatory Mojo

Studies have shown that people with obesity have a blunted sense of taste, so they have to eat more richly flavored foods (more sugary and higher in fat) to glean as much sensory satisfaction from a meal as their leaner peers. This could help in understanding why heavier people have a hard time losing weight.

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Something’s Fishy With Fish Oil

Don’t like fish? Well, you might not be able to turn to the supplement aisle to get the same benefits for your heart. A Cochrane report exploring 79 randomized trials of more than 112,000 adults (both with and without heart disease) showed that increasing omega-3 intake, mainly from fish oil pills taken for at least 1 year, did not significantly prevent heart attacks, strokes or deaths in general.

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Caffeine’s Power to Up Your Game Is in Your Genes

It has flummoxed sports nutrition researchers for years: Why do some athletes get turbo-charged with caffeine while others do not see the same performance boost after a latte? Researchers from the University of Toronto appear to have unlocked the mystery, at least in relation to men. An investigation published in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise shows that male athletes with a specific variation in the CYP1A2 gene, which impacts caffeine metabolism, benefited from caffeine ingestion before a cycling time trial.

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To Fight Diabetes, Jump on the Whole-Grain Train

The numbers are startling: About 30 million Americans—more than 9% of the population—have diabetes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Another 84 million have prediabetes, a condition of poor blood sugar control that often leads to type 2 diabetes. But it looks like adding whole grains to our diets could reduce the disease’s collective burden.

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A Salty Diet Might Be a Death Sentence for Beneficial Bugs

We’ve long known that a high-salt diet has a role in raising blood pressure for some people. Now German scientists have presented a potential mechanism not previously considered: Excessive salt intake may wipe out beneficial Lactobacillus bacteria in our guts. That can drive up blood pressure numbers and raise the risk for certain diseases like stroke, according to a June 2018 Medical News Today report on research presented at the British Cardiovascular Society Conference.

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Full-Fat Dairy Makes a Comeback?

An ever-expanding pile of research papers is challenging the idea that we need to avoid full-fat varieties of dairy products like yogurt and milk. There may be no need to settle for fat-free versions that could be less satisfying: For instance, a new study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition involving more than 2,900 U.S. seniors aged 65 and above found that whole-fat dairy consumption appears to do little harm when it comes to cardiovascular disease.

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