A Dietitian Explains How To Add More Potassium To Your Diet To Lower Blood Pressure
Faith Geiger – April 21, 2023
woman eating fresh fruit salad
High blood pressure, also known as hypertension, is a common health problem that affects millions of people worldwide. If left uncontrolled, hypertension can lead to serious health issues such as heart disease, stroke, and kidney failure. While there are several factors that play a role in your blood pressure, including your stress levels (find tips for managing stress here), and there are medications available to help manage hypertension, a healthy diet can also play a significant role. One nutrient that has been shown to be particularly beneficial in lowering blood pressure is potassium.
To learn more about how adding more potassium to your diet can help you manage your blood pressure and discover some of the best sources of this nutrient, we spoke to registered dietitian Krutika Nanavati. She gave us a rundown on why adding potassium-rich foods like fresh fruits and vegetables, legumes, and more can make all the difference in your health. Read on for all of her expert insight!
There are several ways that adding more potassium to your diet can help reduce your risk of high blood pressure. For starters, Nanavati tells us that “Potassium helps relax the walls of blood vessels, which lowers resistance to blood flow and reduces the strain on the heart.”
In addition to lowering resistance of blood flow, increasing your potassium intake can also prevent a build-up of calcium in your arteries and veins, which Nanavati cites as a major contributing factor to high blood pressure.
Then there’s the fact that potassium helps maintain healthy fluid levels and keep electrolytes balanced in your body. “It works by balancing out sodium, helping to reduce the effects of sodium on our blood vessels and reducing our overall risk of high blood pressure,” Nanavati explains. Nice!
So, now that we know how great potassium is at lowering blood pressure, what are some of the best ways to fit it into your diet? Nanavati recommends the following:
-Fresh fruits and vegetables: Nanavati says that one of the best ways to up your potassium intake is through fruits such as bananas, oranges, apricots and kiwis, as well as vegetables like spinach, broccoli and potatoes.
-Legumes: Don’t underestimate the power of legumes! Nanavati suggests dried peas, beans and lentils, which she notes are “packed with potassium and other important nutrients.”
-Dairy products: Good news for cheese lovers; Nanavati tells us that dairy products like milk, yogurt, and cottage cheese are also great sources of potassium.
-Fish: Fish can be a great protein choice for so many reasons. You may already know that this food is packed with healthy fats and other nutrients, but did you know it also offers a healthy dose of potassium? Try salmon, tuna and sardines.
-Nuts and seeds: Nuts and seeds make a fantastic snack or topping for your oatmeal, smoothie bowls, salads, and more. In addition to being nutrient-rich and highly satiating, Nanavati says they’re also a great source of potassium. She recommends almonds, pistachios, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds in particular. Learn more about the benefits of nuts here.
-Dried herbs and spices: Don’t forget to add some flavor to your meals with spices and herbs! Not only do they make food taste great, but according to Nanavati, they can also add some extra potassium to the mix. Parsley, coriander, and black pepper are all potassium-rich options.
The bottom line
Ultimately, maintaining healthy blood pressure levels will require you to make healthy choices every day. (You can find some of the best habits to lower your blood pressure here.) However, your diet can play a major role, and potassium is one of the best things to add to the mix. When you follow Nanavati’s advice by adding these foods to your plate, you’ll be one step closer to your health goals.
5 Ways Sleep Deprivation Affects Your Brain and Mood, According to Sleep Doctors
Lindsay Tigar – April 17, 2023
Your mind needs sleep just as much as your body does.
Westend61/Getty Images
Parents of newborns, students cramming for exams, overworked professionals pushed to their max, insomniacs, caffeine dependents, night-shift workers, and menstruating people—at some point, we all know how getting less than enough sleep feels (very bad). Though it’s normal to have trouble falling asleep and/or staying asleep occasionally, prolonged periods of sleepless nights and chronic sleep deprivation can harm not only our bodies, but our minds.
Sleep is essential for brain development, wellness, and functioning, explains Heidi Riney, MD, board-certified sleep medicine and neurology psychologist and the chief medical officer of Nox Health. “Sleep has long been thought to be a passive process, but it’s actually an active state, and the quality and duration of our sleep impacts crucial brain functions,” she says, including memory storage, attention maintenance and arousal, learning new material/tasks, mood stability, the ability to read social cues, problem-solving, executive functioning, and impulse control.
So what happens to your brain health and mental capacities if you consistently don’t get enough sleep? And how can you power through on days when you didn’t get enough shut-eye the night before? We asked sleep specialists and mental health experts to weigh in.
How Much Sleep Do You Need for Optimal Brain Health?
Though it seems like a straightforward question, it’s somewhat complicated to understand how much sleep your mind needs to perform well and stay well. The human brain is as different from one person to the next as fingerprints. Because of this, the specific amount of optimal sleep one brain needs isn’t the same for everyone, says licensed clinical psychologist Bethany Cook, PsyD.
Generally speaking, Cook says, scientists have found that most adults need around 8 or 9 hours of sleep to perform and feel their best. However, since this estimate is a bell curve, some people need more, and some need less to feel great.
Though without undergoing formal sleep analysis, it’s difficult to know exactly how much sleep you need, there are a few things that can help guide your body’s natural cues. Quality and quantity of hours sleep do matter, but so does how you feel in the morning.
“The only way of knowing if you’re getting ‘quality sleep’ is if you typically wake up feeling rested, refreshed, and revitalized,” Cook says. “Our brains need around four to six full sleep cycles a night to wake [feeling] rested. If you’re sleeping for 10 hours every night, but not waking up feeling refreshed, you’re getting poor sleep quality.” She adds that it can be helpful to visit a clinic for a sleep study to identify and fix the problems in your sleep cycle.
The Mental Health Effects of Sleep Deprivation
A Slower Response Time
Even if you didn’t have a single sip of wine last night, you might wake up feeling foggy and sluggish, unable to respond to questions or respond to things happening around you quickly, explains Nicole Avena, PhD, research neuroscientist, psychologist, and a wellness ambassador for Nature Made.
“Lack of sleep, short term, has been linked to poor response times and processing,” she says. “This not only can impair your awareness, but it can also harm others around you. Demanding cognitive functions, for example, driving, cannot be performed adequately when sleep is hindered.”
Short-Term Memory Disruption
When you miss your date with Mr. Sandman, the next day may likely bring a struggle to remember much of anything: your keys, your wallet, your phone, you name it. According to Taz Bhatia, MD, board-certified integrative medicine physician and OLLY ambassador, this is because there is a connection between sleep and its impact on memory retention. “Sleep is essential in consolidating memories and allowing us to retain and recall information,” she says. “However, this process can be disrupted without enough sleep, leading to difficulties forming, keeping, and calling back memories.”
After tossing and turning for hours, you finally leave your bed and head straight to the kitchen. What do you reach for? Probably simple carbohydrates and sugar, since one common effect of sleep deprivation is increased hunger by 24 percent, says Melissa Halas, MA, RDN, CDE, registered dietitian and brain health expert for Neauriva.
“Often, the carbohydrates consumed aren’t nutrient-dense foods like apples, or whole grains, but rather simple carbs like snack foods high in refined sugars or refined grains,” she says. So if you’re wondering why you can’t stop craving sugar, maybe you should take a look at your sleep patterns first.
Trouble Making Decisions (Large or Small)
Depending on what type of career path you’re on, the ability to make fast decisions is vital to your success. Think: operating heavy machinery, responding to an emergency, or managing a large team with many moving parts. (And let’s not even get started on all the decision-making that also needs to happen at home.) Even if you don’t have a high-stakes job, being able to make simple decisions, like what to wear for the day, is impacted by sleep. Avena explains that our brains process things differently when we don’t get enough sleep. “What’s called ‘naturalistic decision making,’ or being able to make everyday decisions, like what to have for lunch, can be altered,” she says. “This is due to the prefrontal cortex lacking adequate rest.”
Maybe you don’t usually have a short fuse with your partner and friends, but every interaction might feel tense and irritating when you’re running on only two hours of rest. This is because people who don’t sleep well or enough often feel snappy, depressed, and more likely to make risky choices, according to Avena. “There’s no need to break up with your boyfriend after days of not sleeping properly, but your brain may think otherwise,” she says. “Sleep plays a role in the brain to regulate and process emotions, which affects how we react and manage emotions every day.” If you’re mood seems like it’s on a chaotic roller coaster, part of the reason may be that you (and your brain) are under-slept, leading to quick tears, more flashes of frustration, negative reactions, and the like.
How to Cope if You’re Running on Little Sleep
We all have our reasons for sleepless nights once in a while, and in these cases, while making sure to catch up on sleep A.S.A.P. is the best solution, it’s not always an immediate possibility. Here are some of the healthiest and most effective ways to power through and compensate for any mental glitches that come with occasional sleep deprivation. But don’t rely on these tips as an excuse to skimp on sleep! They’re temporary bandages, not the final fix for sleepiness.
Get outside.
You might want to crawl under the covers and hide from the world after a restless night, but you should do the opposite, as sunlight and fresh air are both great for triggering endorphins and serotonin, Avena says. “Serotonin, in particular, is a melatonin precursor and can help fight insomnia together,” she says. “It can be as easy as sitting on your porch for your morning coffee.”
Listen to music to wake up your brain.
Taylor Swift can get you through a breakup, and she might also help your brain power through a tough day. When you need an energy boost on sleepy mornings, turn up the volume on your favorite, upbeat playlist while driving or taking a shower. Believe it or not, when you listen to music, your entire brain lights up with neuronal activity, getting the entire brain ‘online,’ Cook says: “While all the parts are awake and working, music’s vibrational energy will inevitably sync your own body’s internal energy to match the faster, higher and happy vibrations.”
Caffeinate (responsibly).
Although turning to too much caffeine habitually to make up for poor sleep isn’t wise, there’s little downside to using it as a wakefulness tool every now and then, says Valerie Ulene, MD, MPH, cofounder of Boom Home Medical. “A caffeinated beverage early in the day will almost certainly help keep you more alert for a few hours,” she says. “Just remember to avoid caffeine after about mid-day as consuming it too close to bedtime will likely cause more problems than it solves.”
Try to find the root issue.
Though you may need to power through the day after a poor night of sleep, it’s crucial to try to identify the reason you’re not sleeping the night before and address it before it becomes a chronic issue.
“It can take days to catch up from even losing one hour of sleep the night before, so it’s best to try and maintain a consistent sleep and wake schedule and allow yourself to get at least seven hours of sleep each night,” Dr. Riney says. “If you feel you’re experiencing poor quality sleep or have daytime dysfunction that may be attributed to poor sleep, it’s important to seek out a sleep specialist for further evaluation.”
Sir Nick Faldo: LIV players have quit their job – and now they want a bonus
Jim White – March 30, 2023
Nick Faldo – Nick Faldo: LIV players have quit their job – and now they want a bonus – Getty Images/Luke Walker
Sir Nick Faldo is back. And he is as full as ever of opinions, on everything from the BBC, through the height of tees, to LIV Golf. His return, however, may come as a surprise, because last August he bade farewell from the commentary box at the American network CBS, for whom he had covered all the big golfing events (and a few smaller ones) for 16 years.
As goodbyes go, this was one that looked pretty permanent, an adieu so tearful that he and his fellow pundits ran out of tissues. Yet, barely seven months on, the 65-year-old has returned to be part of Sky’s coverage of the Masters from Augusta. And one thing is for sure: his time away from the microphone has not dampened his opinions.
Take his view of LIV Golf, the Saudi-backed breakaway tour run by his old Masters sparring partner Greg Norman.
“All this ‘we’re going to supercharge the excitement’,” he says of LIV’s claim it is a golfing game-changer. “Well, we haven’t seen any excitement because nobody’s watching.”
As for the LIV players breaking off to do their own thing and then insisting on competing in a tournament such as the Masters, Faldo is not holding back.
“Hey, if you want to go and do something different, fine. But this [playing in the Masters] is a bit like: You had a job in a store and now you’ve got a new one, then you’re calling the store demanding you get a bonus. I’ve got nothing against these guys, the grass is greener on the other side and all that. But don’t get all uppity if people object when you come back.”
Lest anyone accuse him of being the Roy Hodgson of television punditry, unable to keep away even after saying he was off, the great three-time Masters winner wants to make it clear he never said he was retiring. Just pulling back.
“I wanted to cut down from full-time commentary. It was too much,” he says. “It’s a great job, don’t get me wrong. But you’re basically flying twice a week. You check out of a hotel and they say: See you again next year. And sure enough, another year goes by and you’re checking in again. And hey, that just hit me and I was like: I’m off. I have other things to do with my life.”
There is, he says, plenty to do: he has a course design business and is involved in a tournament in the Far East trying to fast-track new players on to the DP World Tour – which he calls the “hashtag growing the game.”
Then there is his farm in the middle of Montana, from where he is speaking to Telegraph Sport. Though he is quick to point out “farm” may be something of an exaggeration: He is definitely no golfing Jeremy Clarkson.
“He’s doing it properly and as he goes he’s highlighting the bloody difficulty of being a farmer in Britain. So good on him,” he says of Clarkson. “I’m just about getting my boots muddy. Most of my time seems to be spent feeding the dogs. Really, we’re just doing it all for the scenery.”
And he describes the view from the window as he speaks, the uninterrupted mountain range, the river where he fishes, the several feet of snow that has lain thereabouts all winter.
“Yeah, that’s been a surprise,” he says of the four months of deep-freeze conditions. “Augusta will make a nice change.”
Though it is not just the lush fairways and magnolias that are drawing him back down to Georgia. It is the golf. The lure of being involved once again in a sport which he has played and commentated on for the past 46 years.
“I want to do the big stuff,” he says. “I want to be there for the Majors.”
In the United States, he became a much-loved fixture of the CBS golf coverage, his light touch, dry humour and refusal to take himself seriously were hugely admired. Which might come as a surprise to Sky viewers in Britain who remember him as a golfer of almost terrifying intensity. Where did that comedy come from? After all, he was not joking when he hunted down Greg Norman on that final day in Augusta in 1996 to win his third green jacket.
“I felt insulted when people said I invented my broadcasting style to disguise the fact I was such an arse,” he says. “I read people saying it was an act to come across as a nice guy. Actually, it is me. I credit my dad for this. He loved his amateur dramatics, and I think it brings out the theatre in me. Make it quick, make it funny. And it’s a show, that’s the other thing to remember: It’s entertainment. I always thought, ‘Well if I entertain myself, then hopefully that comes across.’”
When he talks about what is needed at Augusta, he knows precisely what he is talking about. “Way back from my first year of TV, I said, ‘All right, don’t sit here and wish you were out there. Just say what you see and let the pictures tell the story’.”
‘Golf is a global sport and Augusta is its showcase. The BBC should be there’
Not that Faldo is lacking in opinion. There is, for instance, his take on the fact that, barring a late stay of execution, the BBC will no longer broadcast so much as edited television highlights from Augusta. After all, it was watching the Beeb’s coverage of Jack Nicklaus winning the 1972 edition on his parents’ new colour television that first lured the teenage Faldo into the game.
“Well, it’s not right,” he says of BBC Television’s probable absence. “It’s a global sport and Augusta is its showcase. They should be there. Very simple, they really should be there.”
Then there is his dismay at the manner in which equipment advances have changed the nature of the game, particularly the distance of drives. “I come from an era when only about five golfers could hit over 300 yards. Now everyone can. We had drivers that had a sweetspot the size of a pea. Now they are the size of Montana.”
His solution is a simple one, a lot simpler than the PGA’s mooted idea of altering the ball, which is causing such unrest in the locker room. “I mean it sounds a silly thing, but it’s the size of the tee peg,” he says. “They wallop these drives from tees about a foot high. Make them play off the ground and instantly they won’t be able to hit the ball into the next time zone.”
And then there is LIV Golf. Initially he said he did not want to talk about LIV. But once he starts, there is no stopping him.
“I’m not against them. They decided the grass is greener on their tour. Fine. The gripes I get is when he [Norman] said these things about doing it to grow the game of golf. We’ve all been here 40 years or more, hang on mate. The fact is they got a ridiculous cash offer, which for some of them was the right thing to do.
“But as we said, it’s gone very quiet. So good luck with changing the game.”
Nick Faldo interview: LIV players have quit their job – and now they want a bonus – Getty Images/Christian Petersen
Faldo will doubtless let his opinion be known when he attends the Champions Dinner the night before the Masters starts. This is a unique social gathering in which only those who have previously worn the Green Jacket may attend. Norman will not be there as, largely thanks to Faldo, he never won it. But there will still be a significant representation of LIV players.
“That is going to be a great evening,” he says. “Six of them [LIV golfers] are champions. There could be a few fireside stories after that. Apparently we’re using plastic knives and forks this year. Just in case.”
Doing This One Thing Every Day Could Lower Your Risk of Dementia
Beth Ann Mayer – March 30, 2023
Plus, the habit that comes in second—according to a neuropsychologist.
More than six million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s Disease, the most common form of dementia, according to a 2023 Alzheimer’s Association report. The report also notes that Alzheimer’s starts about 20 years or more before a person develops memory loss or other hallmark symptoms of the devastating disease.
Damage to the brain cells causes dementia. Genetics can play a role, so it’s not possible to prevent it 100 percent. But research discussed at the 2019 Alzheimer’s Association International Conference indicated that lifestyle choices can reduce the risk of cognitive decline and dementia.
It’s like lifting weights—you do it to keep your muscles strong.
“Although the process of keeping your mind sharp is different from keeping your muscles strong, the phrase ‘use it or lose it’ can be applied to the brain as well as the body,” Dr. Caldwell says. “The types of thinking-based activities involved in keeping your mind sharp—for example, attending classes, learning languages and debating topics—may also offer benefits for our mental health, as we feel a sense of accomplishment, and may offer opportunities to socialize, which is another way of reducing dementia risks.”
But you may be surprised by her top daily tip for reducing dementia risk.
You may have heard that exercises like crossword puzzles, word searches or Sudoku can help keep the mind sharp. And while they certainly won’t hurt, the very best way to prevent cognitive decline is a different type of exercise: physical exercise.
“Some people are surprised to hear it, but we know that exercise has both immediate and long-term brain benefits, from increasing brain chemistry that supports the health of your brain cells to reducing factors such as chronic bodily inflammation, which can be harmful to the brain,” Dr. Caldwell says.
Physical activity also has some sneaky perks for cognition.
“Exercise also has benefits for the brain that are indirect—for example, improving mood and sleep, reducing stress, supporting heart health and increasing chances to socialize, all of which, in turn, reduces risks for poor memory with age,” Dr. Caldwell says.
Beyond prevention, a 2020 study conducted on mice indicated that exercise may even reverse age-related cognitive decline, but more research is needed on duration, frequency and exercise types to fully understand how this applies to humans. A review of previous research from the same year also suggested that physical activity could reduce cognitive decline and lower behavioral issues in individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or dementia. The authors suggested moderate-intensity (or greater) aerobic exercise would have the most significant effect on cognition.
“The goal for exercise for brain health for life is at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise [per week], and for healthy adults, more is better,” Dr. Caldwell says.
If you aren’t currently exercising, talk to your doctor first. From there, Dr. Caldwell says you can increase your physical activity—and your chances of making it a habit—with two big tips.
“First, pair exercise with something you like or already do. Think stationary biking while watching a favorite program or walking while listening to a podcast episode,” Dr. Caldwell says. “Second, find a partner for accountability and motivation.”
Your accountability partner can motivate you from afar. “Even if you can’t find an in-person partner for runs or visits to the gym, checking in with a long-distance friend regularly about fitness goals can offer support and make it more likely that you will stick with your goals,” Dr. Caldwell says.
What Are Other Ways To Reduce Cognitive Decline Risk?
Regular physical activity is important, but Dr. Caldwell says fighting cognitive decline requires a multi-prong approach.
She says it’s also important to prioritize getting seven to eight hours of continuous sleep. “Sleep is when we cement new memories into long-term storage, and also when our brains have a chance to clear debris, including the types of proteins that build up in Alzheimer’s disease,” Dr. Caldwell says.
Research published in 2021 underscores the importance of sleep for brain health. The study, which was conducted on 8,000 British people aged 50 and over, indicated that people in their 50s and 60s who got six hours of shuteye or less per night were 30 percent more likely to be diagnosed with dementia than their peers, who were getting a least seven hours of sleep nightly.
Alcohol intake is another lifestyle habit to evaluate. “Our bodies process alcohol differently as we age, and drinking more than seven drinks per week has been linked to risk for dementia,” Dr. Caldwell says.
Finally, don’t put your mental health on the back burner. “Depression is a risk factor for dementia, and those feelings of sadness and lack of interest that can come with depression can also make it difficult to engage in other brain-healthy behaviors,” Dr. Caldwell says.
You can’t remember if you brushed your teeth today. Should you be concerned? Probably not.
“Anyone can make a memory mistake at any age—some forgetfulness is normal,” Dr. Caldwell says. “Signs of memory decline would include forgetting what happens frequently, such as needing several reminders throughout the day about a conversation you had that morning. Another sign would be forgetting essential information, such as forgetting the name of a loved one or an event you looked forward to.”
If you notice these signs, Dr. Caldwell suggests seeing a doctor. “A primary care doctor may give you or your loved one a short memory test—one that takes about five minutes,” Dr. Caldwell says.
From there, your doctor may suggest additional testing or appointments. Dr. Caldwell says this workup may include bloodwork, a brain scan, a referral to a neurologist who specializes in memory problems, or a referral to a neuropsychologist, like Dr. Caldwell.
“This is a specialist in memory and other thinking skills, who will administer several hours of paper or computer tests to better understand if you or your loved one are having a change in your thinking compared to others your age,” Dr. Caldwell explains.
No matter what type of appointments and tests you or your loved one get, the goal is to get to a diagnosis—whether that is normal memory, some mild changes called mild cognitive impairment, or more significant changes, called dementia.
“Memory changes can appear for many reasons, and your doctor will talk with you about possible reasons for your diagnosis, though figuring that all out may take time,” Dr. Caldwell says.
Parkinson’s disease symptoms disappeared with exercise, man claims: ‘Use it or lose it’
Melissa Rudy – March 29, 2023
Parkinson’s disease symptoms disappeared with exercise, man claims: ‘Use it or lose it’
Parkinson’s disease has no cure, but multiple studies have shown that exercise can alleviate symptoms and slow progression.
A recent review published in Cochrane Library — led by Dr. Elke Kalbe, professor of medical psychology at the University of Cologne, Germany — analyzed data for nearly 8,000 people around the world with Parkinson’s.
Researchers found that those who participated in any type of physical activity showed “mild to large improvements” in motor skills and quality of life compared to those who didn’t exercise.
For Scott Hanley, a 57-year-old native of Belfast, Ireland, the benefits have been life-changing. After two years of what he described as “stumbling in the dark with Parkinson’s,” he started a new workout routine. He credits it with completely stopping his symptoms.
When Hanley was first diagnosed, his Parkinson’s was still in the early stages — level 2, with level 5 being the most advanced. But over time, he started to notice more symptoms.
“I had something called dystonia, where multiple parts of my body would go rigid, leaving me incapacitated,” he said in an interview with Fox News Digital.
“I would be walking along, and suddenly my right foot would just lock out or stick to the ground and I would fall over.”
Hanley’s doctors put him on medication with plans to review his symptoms every six months.
Scott Hanley (shown here) is a 57-year-old native of Belfast, Ireland, who is living with Parkinson’s disease. For him, the benefits of exercise have been life-changing.
“They said I could expect a progression of the disease and that there was precious little we could do about it,” he said. “And I found that hugely frustrating.”
After a couple of years of struggling with worsening symptoms, Hanley said his mindset shifted.
“My tolerance for putting up with Parkinson’s had run out,” he said. “I decided to try something else.”
At the time of his diagnosis, his physical health wasn’t the greatest, Hanley admits.
“I was overweight, I wasn’t active and my diet wasn’t good,” he said.
After reading a few success stories, he decided to try CrossFit classes, which incorporate strength and conditioning exercises at a high intensity.
The workouts focus on building cardiovascular/respiratory endurance, stamina, strength, flexibility, power, coordination, agility, balance and accuracy, according to the CrossFit website. Typical movements include burpees, deadlifts, rowing, squats, medicine ball throws, pull-ups and barbell presses.
For Hanley, the key was that the exercises all had a cognitive element. He had to really think about each movement.
“When we work different parts of the body, they get stronger. So I figured, why not try to make the brain stronger?” Hanley said. “I didn’t want to just go for a run or ride a bike — I wanted to challenge my brain pathways with physically intense exercise.”
Within six months, Hanley said his symptoms had disappeared — even without any medications.
During one period last year, Hanley injured his shoulder and couldn’t work out for four weeks. By the end of that month, he started getting tremors in his hand and his foot began to “stick” again while walking.
Just a few months after starting CrossFit classes, Hanley (pictured on a rowing machine) said his symptoms disappeared.
After he returned to the gym, the symptoms went away again.
“That’s what really validated the benefits for me,” Hanley said.
Blake Bookstaff, an entrepreneur in Knoxville, Tennessee, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s when he was just 47, he told Fox News Digital in an interview.
Some of his early symptoms included a change in gait, involuntary hand movements and “frozen shoulder,” which is when the tissues around the shoulder joint become inflamed and make it difficult to lift the arm.
Medications helped lessen the symptoms somewhat, but Bookstaff decided to try ramping up his exercise for greater benefits.
“I saw something on the news about Rock Steady Boxing, which is a franchise that offers workouts for people with Parkinson’s,” he said.
He contacted the owner and scheduled a personal training session — which he now does twice a week.
“When we work different parts of the body, they get stronger — so I figured, why not try to make the brain stronger?” said Hanley, pictured here in both frames.
In the sessions, the trainer focuses on functional movements to help Bookstaff in regular day-to-day activities, such as standing up from a chair or getting in and out of a car.
“The compound exercises that combine multiple movements have been the most effective for me,” he said. “For example, when I’m boxing and I have to think about throwing different types of punches and hitting moving targets, I can actually feel my brain opening up, as if the cobwebs have been lifted.”
During weeks when he doesn’t work out, Bookstaff notices that his body becomes stiffer and harder to move.
Robert D’Egidio, a physical therapist at Atlantic Rehabilitation in Gillette, New Jersey, has seen firsthand how exercise can slow and modify symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.
“It directly improves ease of movement for activities of daily living, reduces symptoms such as tremor and rigidity, and improves gait features for more normalized stepping and balance,” he told Fox News Digital.
Julie Pilitsis, M.D., a neurosurgeon at Marcus Neuroscience Institute in Boca Raton, Florida, agreed with that assessment.
“Exercise is the best thing that people with Parkinson’s can do to take care of themselves,” said Pilitsis, who specializes in functional neurosurgery and Parkinson’s disease, in an interview with Fox News Digital.
“It has some of the most dramatic effects on limiting disease progression. It helps with stiffness, mind-body connection and fitness, just to name a few.”
“A good mantra for all of us, but particularly for those with Parkinson’s, is ‘use it or lose it,’” she added.
The Cochrane review found that any type of physical activity — from strength training and endurance to swimming, dance and yoga — can help improve motor skills and quality of life for people with Parkinson’s.
The Cochrane review found that any type of physical activity can help improve motor skills and quality of life in people with Parkinson’s.
“We observed clinically meaningful improvements in the severity of motor symptoms for most types of exercise,” said Dr. Moritz Ernst, first author of the review and a member of Cochrane Haematology, in a press release on the Cochrane website.
“These included dancing, training to improve gait, balance and movement, multi-exercise training and mind-body training.”
Physical therapist D’Egidio recommends doing any aerobic exercise with moderate intensity that will elevate the heart rate 20 to 30 beats above the resting rate for 30 to 40 minutes, three times per week.
“We have observed consistently in our clinic that more intensified exercise has a direct impact on disease symptoms,” he said. “Exercises should include a variety of functional movements, multidirectional movements and some resistance [strength] training.”
For best results, he suggests mixing up the workouts throughout the year.
People with Parkinson’s, however, should pay close attention to any adverse effects and reduce intensity as needed, D’Egidio added.
Compound exercises, such as boxing, have been the most effective at alleviating the Parkinson’s symptoms for one man (not pictured).
“Exercise should be discontinued if disproportional pain results from an activity, such as sharp pain in the back, neck, knees and shoulders, or if the person has chest pain or breathing difficulties not consistent with the level of exertion being used,” he said.
Neurosurgeon Pilitsis noted that above all, good judgment should come into play. If there are balance issues, for example, high-impact activities may not make sense.
“Sometimes medications or difficulty swallowing can make the patient a bit dehydrated,” she said. “If you aren’t feeling well, are going through a period where you are recovering from illness or surgery, are dehydrated, or it is very hot outside, it is better to take it slow and adjust your routine.”
Experts agree that it’s always best to get a doctor’s clearance before starting any new exercise program.
While individual exercise may help keep symptoms at bay, having a comprehensive health care team is the optimal way to manage Parkinson’s disease over time, E’Egidio believes.
“This includes a movement disorder specialist, primary care provider, neurologist (to assist or support), physical therapist and/or occupational therapist with neurological background, speech therapist (as needed), support groups, community services directed at Parkinson’s disease and access to exercise facilities or equipment,” he said.
Nearly one million people in the U.S. are living with Parkinson’s disease, according to the Parkinson’s Foundation.
By 2030, it is expected to affect 1.2 million people. Parkinson’s is the second-most common neurodegenerative disease, after Alzheimer’s.
Ask a cycling coach: ‘What’s the ideal heart rate to burn fat while cycling?’
James Spragg – March 29, 2023
Male cyclist riding a bike to burn fat
For a lot of us (myself included) it might be nice to burn off a little bit of excess body fat. How might we best go about that in our training? Is there a certain intensity we should target to burn the most body fat? James Spragg answers whether there’s anything you can optimize when training with heart rate, and separates the myths from the reality…
You may have heard people refer to the ‘fat burning zone’ – the cycling training zone in which your body is using fat as a fuel source – or substrate as coaches and sports scientists would say. You may have also heard of ‘fat-max’ the intensity at which the body is using the most fat per minute or hour of exercise.
Well, both these concepts are real physiological phenomena, but they might not help you lose that excess body fat! Let me explain…
In very simplistic terms, when we exercise at very easy intensities, we almost exclusively use fat as a substrate, and when we exercise at very hard intensities, we almost exclusively use carbohydrates as a substrate. In those middling intensities, we are using a mix of both fat and carbohydrates. Obviously, as we exercise harder, we use more fuel – just like your car uses more fuel when you drive faster. So logically at a specific intensity, there is a peak in fat usage. This is what we call ‘fat-max’. However, it’s not a fixed intensity and can be influenced by what we eat. For example, if we eat a lot of fructose before exercise then our bodies use that as a preferential fuel and our fat max might be a bit lower. Likewise, if we are glycogen depleted, i.e. we have low carbohydrate stores, then we tend to use more fat as there are only limited carbohydrates available.
Additionally, there is quite a lot of person to person variation in the intensity at which fat- max occurs. Typically, however, the better trained an individual is the higher their fat max.
So yes in theory there is an intensity at which we can maximise the amount of fat used during a training session. However, that intensity might differ depending on several factors including what you have eaten and, believe it or not, how much caffeine you have had that day. However, this intensity is quite different from person to person and therefore it doesn’t occur at a fixed heart rate or even a fixed percentage of max heart rate.
Ultimately it’s calories in versus calories out.
However, paradoxically, riding at this ‘fat-max’ intensity might not be the best way to lose a few pounds. We cannot look at weight loss and substrate utilisation simply when we are exercising. We need to look at the bigger picture. Ultimately it comes down to energy in versus energy used.
If you take in more energy than you burn off, then you put on weight. Burn more calories than you eat, and you will lose body mass. Therefore, if we go a little harder in our training sessions, maximising the amount of energy expenditure then we might actually find it easier to shift those extra pounds as we will simply be increasing the energy used side of the equation.
Conclusion
While there is an intensity at which we ‘burn’ the most fat per minute/hour it is not at a given percentage of max HR and it can move around based on our diet. Ultimately if we are looking to lose weight cycling then it’s much better to push on a bit more in your training sessions and eat a little less rather than packing your cycling training plan with sessions that target a very specific intensity on the bike.
Could wild blueberries help burn fat during exercise?
Vishwam Sankaran – March 28, 2023
Consuming a cup of wild blueberries daily for two weeks can help the body burn more fat during exercise, according to a new study.
The research, published recently in the journal Nutrients, is the first to examine the fat-burning effects of wild blueberries during exercise in non-elite athletes.
The blueberries can help accelerate fat oxidation in the body, the process by which fatty acid molecules are broken down for energy, found scientists, including those from the California Polytechnic State University in the US.
However, citing some of the limitations of the study, researchers said it included only 11 males and no women.
The 11 healthy, aerobically trained males were instructed to follow a diet that included consuming 25 grams of freeze-dried wild blueberries each day for two weeks.
Each participant exercised on a bike for 40 minutes at Cal Poly Humboldt’s Human Performance Lab, and their urine and blood samples were collected before and after cycling. Their blood samples were collected every 10 minutes during the workout as well.
The findings suggest the participants notably burned more fat after consuming the blueberries.
The fat oxidation rate rose by about 20 per cent, 43 per cent and 31 per cent at 20, 30 and 40 minutes after cycling, according to the study.
The berries, known previously as a superfood, accelerate fat burning and also decrease the use of carbohydrates by the body – a metabolic change which scientists said could be significant for athletes.
“Increasing the use of fat can help performance, particularly in endurance activities as we have more fat stores to keep us going longer than we do carb stores,” study co-author Taylor Bloedon explained.
Researchers said saving stored carbs also helps when exercise intensity needs to be increased, particularly towards the end of a race or training session.
“At these higher intensities we cannot rely on fat to fuel us as fat cannot be used as a fuel source for high-intensity activities,” Dr Bloedon said.
The scientists also found that drastically cutting carbs when people want to burn more fat “may lead to negative health and performance outcomes”.
They say anthocyanins – the compounds which give fruits and vegetables their blue, red and purple colors – may be responsible for the increased fat oxidation.
“Women tend to have a greater ability to oxidize fat naturally so it will be interesting to see the results,” Dr Bloedon said.
“Results indicate that wild blueberries may increase the rate of fat oxidation during moderate-intensity activity in healthy, active males,” said the study.
MIT neuroscientist Li-Huei Tsai said it boils down to routine and discipline.
It comes down to discipline.
That’s according to MIT Professor Li-Huei Tsai, a neuroscientist who focuses on diseases like Alzheimer’s and directs The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory. She told Insider that the keys to maintaining healthy brain function and memory as you age are no secret.
Li-Huei TsaiCognito Therapeutics
“I think people actually know what they should be doing to stay healthy and to preserve their memory,” Tsai said.
She said that common expert advice — exercise, be socially and intellectually active, and maintain a healthy diet — are important to implement into our lives. The harder part is maintaining those habits.
“I think that if you just keep a routine, you know, you do it,” Tsai said. “I mean, I think that’s the only way to do it.”
A recent study published in The BMJ that followed almost 30,000 people in China for 10 years found that those who followed more “healthy lifestyle factors” had slower memory decline than those who did not.
Researchers in the study looked at many of the same factors that Tsai called out: a healthy diet, regular exercise, regular social contact, cognitive activities, and abstaining from both smoking and alcohol.
Tsai said she knows it’s important to maintain her routine even when conditions are less than favorable.
“I just have to really discipline myself,” she said. “For instance, exercise in the winter: it’s really painful when you look at outside temperature below zero and there’s ice and snow on the ground. I just try to discipline myself.”
These Sleep Habits Are Putting Your Heart Health At Risk
Jillian Wilson – March 21, 2023
In addition to eating nutritious foods and exercising, sleeping is important for your heart health.
In addition to eating nutritious foods and exercising, sleeping is important for your heart health.
While it’s well known that exercise, healthy eating and managing things such as high blood pressure and cholesterol are crucial for your heart health, it turns out your sleep habits play a big role, too.
The study looked at people with obstructed sleep apnea, people with fragmented sleep and people with short sleep duration. Participants wore a wrist tracker for seven days to measure their sleep and completed a sleep journal; the study also measured their heart rate, breathing and sleep stages.
People who had irregular sleep ― which means sleep that varied by 90 minutes to 2 hours each week ― were 1.4 times more likely to have high coronary artery calcium scores, which is the amount of plaque in your arteries.
The study underscored data found by other recent sleep-and-heart research, according to Dr. Manesh R. Patel, the chief of the division of cardiology and the division of clinical pharmacology at Duke University School of Medicine.
Patel said that other studies have explored this topic and also found that low-quality sleep (like waking up frequently in the night) or not getting enough sleep can put folks at risk for other cardiovascular conditions beyond atherosclerosis. This includes high blood pressure and irregular heart rhythms, Patel noted.
What do these findings about sleep mean for you?
Unfortunately, even just short durations of poor sleep can impact your heart health.
Dr. Virend Somers, a cardiologist at the Mayo Clinic, recently led a randomized controlled study that focused on sleep deprivation and its impact on high blood pressure. The study was made up of healthy young people.
“We looked at their blood pressure and their sympathetic nervous system … over 24 hours,” he explained. When study participants were sleep-deprived (in this case, researchers reported they got four hours of sleep a night for nine days), their blood pressure went up both during the daytime and when they were asleep. These results were more common in women than men, Somers said, which surprised researchers.
“When they’re sleep deprived … the endothelial function — the ability for their blood vessels to dilate — was also impaired,” Somers explained. The inability of blood vessels to dilate is a predictor of future cardiovascular disease, he noted.
This shows that if you take people who are otherwise young and healthy and deprive them of sleep, you create risk factors for the development of heart disease, Somers said.
Additionally, in a small, 21-day study that also followed young, healthy people, Somers found that participants who did not get enough sleep ate an extra 308 calories of food per day. For 14 days, participants got just four hours of sleep per night, which led to this finding. Researchers conducted scans to find that the extra calories went right to the belly and were converted into visceral fat, the dangerous type of fat deep in the abdomen that produces toxins that can make our cardiovascular systems sick, Somers said.
Normally, in healthy, young people, fat goes to a safe storage spot under the skin, which is known as the subcutaneous level, he said. But this was not the case when those young people were sleep-deprived.
“Something about not sleeping enough, that did two things. One, it made them eat more calories, and two, those calories were sent to the worst place — the visceral fat,” Somers said.
Even after a few nights of recovery sleep, the visceral fat continued to accumulate, which shows that recovery sleep doesn’t make up for even a short period of not enough sleep, he added.
If getting more sleep is not a realistic option for you, prioritize other heart-healthy habits like exercise or eating healthy foods.
If getting more sleep is not a realistic option for you, prioritize other heart-healthy habits like exercise or eating healthy foods.
What You Can Do If You Have Poor Sleep
“It’s hard to tell people to sleep better,” Patel explained. Someone who works an overnight shift or has young kids and a busy schedule may just not be able to commit to the recommended seven to nine hours of sleep per night. And if you have trouble staying asleep, you can’t just decide to start sleeping through the night.
Patel said one dangerous potential reason behind not sleeping through the night is obstructive sleep apnea, which is when “you have an obstruction and you’re actually at times startling, or your oxygen can get low at night and you’re just not getting restful sleep and you have periods of apnea where you’re just not breathing because you’re obstructing your airway.”
Snoring, waking up with a headache or waking up tired are all signs of this condition; if you notice these issues, let your doctor know so they can run tests to determine if this is the cause of your bad sleep, Patel added. There are treatment solutions available for those with this condition.
But if you are not suffering from sleep apnea and are able to go to bed earlier, do so. “The more you can get regimented about getting yourself and everyone to bed, the better your health will be,” Patel said.
There are many ways to create a more restful and peaceful sleep environment. “Keep the bedroom cool and very, very dark … even light from a clock can be disruptive to your sleep,” Somers said.
He added that the bedroom should be for sex and sleep, not for watching TV or working. Additionally, if you get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, for example, avoid looking at your cell phone.
“The light from the cell phone can shut down melatonin, and melatonin helps us get to sleep at night,” Somers said. And even if you have a blue light filter on your phone (which is supposed to be better for sleep), just the arousal from reading emails or texts can wake you up, he added.
While sleep is clearly an important factor in heart health, it also is not the only factor. Somers said you can create other good habits to help cut your risk of issues like atherosclerosis and high blood pressure.
“If you want to maintain your heart health, just follow the American Heart Association’s Life’s Essential 8 guidelines,” Somers said. These guidelines include eating better, exercising, quitting smoking, managing your weight, and controlling your blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar — in addition to getting good sleep. (It’s worth noting that good sleep was just added to the guidelines in June 2022, which underscores its newfound importance for heart health.)
So, if you do have to cut your sleep short for the time being, whether due to your work schedule or other commitments, focus on other behaviors like exercise or making sure your plate is loaded with fruit and veggies. Or make an appointment to get bloodwork to determine if you need to manage your cholesterol.
“If we can’t fix the sleep component, let’s try and emphasize some of the others until we have the opportunity to get more sleep,” Somers said.
I’m a cardiologist. Here are 8 foods I’ll never eat
A. Pawlowski – March 20, 2023
Cardiologists see firsthand what a bad diet can do to your heart.
More than 600,000 people die of cardiovascular disease in the U.S. every year — the leading cause of death for both men and women, according the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Hippocrates famously said, “Let food be thy medicine,” and that applies to heart health: Diet is incredibly important, noted Dr. Andrew Freeman, director of cardiovascular prevention and wellness at National Jewish Health in Denver, Colorado, and a member of the American College of Cardiology’s Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease Section Leadership Council.
“If you go to parts of the world where they have not been exposed to a Western lifestyle, meaning a sedentary lifestyle and eating processed foods, heart disease is in very limited existence,” Freeman told TODAY.
Still, it may not always be possible to eliminate problem foods, so moderation and portion control are key.
“There isn’t a food that will save your life … And there isn’t one that’s going to kill you. It is about balance,” said Dr. Sharonne Hayes, professor of cardiovascular medicine and founder of the Women’s Heart Clinic at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.
“So the occasional Cheeto or piece of cheesecake isn’t going to kill you, but it really is what you eat and how much you eat that’s so critical.”
TODAY asked Freeman and Hayes to share some of the top foods they try to avoid or limit for optimal health. Here are eight of the items on their lists:
1. Bacon, sausage and other processed meats
Hayes, who has a family history of coronary disease, is a vegetarian. But even before she stopped eating animal protein some 25 years ago, she avoided processed meats because they’re high in calories, saturated fat, salt and have added ingredients like nitrates.
It’s not only heart health that may be affected by overindulging in hot dogs, salami, bacon, ham and jerky: The World Health Organization has determined eating processed meats causes cancer, Freeman pointed out.
Related:
2. Potato chips and other processed, packaged snacks
Stay away from the little pouches of salty, crunchy carbs you might encounter in a vending machine, the doctors advised.
“Our culture values convenience, which is great, but convenience doesn’t mean you have to eat packaged processed foods with added sugars and salt,” Freeman said. “Nature has provided for us the exact foods we should be eating; we just need to eat them.”
Those easy, portable, natural foods include apples, carrots and other fruits and vegetables — all fiber-rich, nutrient-full options.
Hayes agrees with many nutritionists that simple carbs — found in chips, breads and crackers — are a bigger issue than fat. Look for ways to increase the complexity of what you eat, in terms of grains and other nutrients, she advised.
3. Dessert
Enjoy added sugars in very limited quantities, if at all, Freeman noted.
When it comes to desserts like pies, ice cream and candy bars, Hayes indulges once a week at most and keeps her portion small to limit calories. Her main goal is to maintain a healthy weight: She’s weighed about the same for the past 30 years.
4. Too much protein
“We seem to be obsessed with protein in this country,” Freeman said. “It’s not uncommon to see people getting two times as much protein as they may need in a day and that taxes the kidneys and may cause more problems down the road.”
Another issue is that the extra protein often comes from meats high in saturated fats, which may raise LDL or bad cholesterol, and comes at the expense of other food groups, the American Heart Association warns.
So don’t overdo it and opt for plant protein, both doctors advised.
5. Fast food
It’s been years since Hayes has had any fast food. Some chains let you concoct a reasonably healthy item with fresh vegetables, but most burger and chicken fast food restaurants should be avoided “because there’s virtually nothing on the menu that’s healthy for you,” she said. Even the items that aren’t fried are typically high in simple carbs.
6. Energy drinks
Freeman said he avoids them because they contain added sugar, plus ingredients that may potentially induce problems like high blood pressure or arrhythmia.
That doesn’t mean you should skip caffeine. It’s quite healthful to drink tea or coffee in moderation every day, he said. Just watch what you put in your cup: Black coffee can turn into a calorie bomb if you add sugar, whipped cream, caramel and other toppings.
7. Added salt
There’s virtually no American who doesn’t get too much salt in their diet, Hayes noted. It’s not uncommon for a person to get three or four times the recommended daily amount, Freeman added. Added salt lurks in products you may not realize: cereal, a pickle that comes with your sandwich or a chicken breast that’s been brined to stay juicy and moist.
Read the labels and be aware of how much sodium you’re taking in. You need salt to live, but a high-sodium diet raises blood pressure.
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8. Coconut Oil
It has more saturated fat than lard, Freeman said.
“It’s used in some studies to induce atherosclerosis — sludge in the pipes, if you will, in rats and other animals,” he noted. “It works great topically — it’s a wonderful moisturizer for hair and skin — but I wouldn’t eat too much of it.”
