Keeping track of your health: There’s an app for that!

/in , /by

With the constant advancement in technology, this article suggests that more people have taken advantage of their electronics and gadgets, especially with their smartphones, as a way to keep track of their health. It has become increasingly more common to download apps onto mobile devices, or use self-monitoring devices, to track personal health. And a recent survey shows that now 21% are utilizing these new technologies. Regardless of whether it’s electronic tracking, written diaries, or mental notes, general results do show that just the act of tracking health – such as diet, heartbeat, exercise routine, blood pressure, weight, sleep patterns, etc. – helps those who are trying to live a healthier lifestyle or manage a chronic conditions (e.g. diabetes, heart disease, etc.). Findings suggest that people are overall more inclined to ask doctors questions, more influenced to take a different approach and change their daily life habits to treat their illnesses, and more interested in improving their overall well-being. So instead of checking Facebook or Twitter on your smartphone, it may be well worth the time to check up on your health!

Calorie restriction, telomeres, and the lifespan…

/in , , /by

If you’ve taken a look at our research page, you know that the DiSH Lab has a particular interest in cellular aging, as measured by telomeres, the protective coating on the end of our DNA. There is a wealth of animal research linking calorie restriction to longer telomeres (and lifespan), and this study from Spanish National Cancer Research Centre lends further support. Mice on a 40% reduced calorie diet had longer telomeres, lower incidences of cancer, better overall health, and ultimately, a longer lifespan. The article concludes that research into calorie restriction in humans will be crucial for understanding aging in humans – good thing the DiSH Lab’s CRONA study is currently investigating just that!

Asher Guest Blogs: Warming up the “cold shoulder”

/in , /by
This Guest Blog Post is from Asher King Abramson, one of Dr. T’s Health Psychology students:
Who knew the metaphor was true? According to this social interaction research from the Netherlands, when people feel lonely or excluded, the physical temperature of their skin actually drops! One reason for this is a protective immune response called vasoconstriction, in which blood vessels at the periphery of your body (think fingers and toes) narrow to conserve core body heat. It’s not just physiological, either: If someone is feeling lonely, they’ll also perceive the room to feel colder than it actually is.
So how can you fix this? Hold something warm. People who felt lonely and then held warm objects (like a cup of coffee) felt more welcomed and less excluded. Even more interesting is that people actually behave more socially after touching something warm.

Tracing obesity to even before birth

/in , /by

With “curing” the “obesity epidemic” on the forefront of much of today’s health research, this new finding from Berlin published in PLOS ONE suggests that the mother’s lifestyle during pregnancy can have huge implications for the child’s weight throughout life. Specifically, researchers found that mothers’ overweight/obesity, over-nutrition, and lack of exercise may lead to high birthweight. High birthweight in turn carries with it almost double the risk of becoming overweight later in life. (I guess I would skew that data, since I was actually eleven pounds at birth!) Overall though, these findings highlight important ways that expectant mothers can influence the weight of their children.

Get the most out of your flu shot

/in , /by

This year’s flu is touted to be particularly severe, which is all the more reason why you should consider getting the vaccination. And if you want to make sure your flu shot is maximally effective, here are a couple new findings that offer some promising advice: Researchers from Iowa State University found that people who went for a 90 minute jog or bike ride 15 minutes after getting their flu shot had nearly double the antibody response of those who didn’t exercise afterwards. Similar research from the University of Birmingham suggests that exercising beforehand can also help increase influenza antibodies. You can read more about exercise’s role in flu shot effectiveness here, and maybe try to hit the gym the same day you get your shot.

Ken Guest Blogs: Work yourself into a heart attack

/in , /by

This Guest Blog Post is from Ken Huang, one of Dr. T’s Health Psychology students:

This NPR article discusses some striking long-term implications from stress. Researchers looked at data from 200,000 participants from 13 different studies over an average of 7.5 years and found that those who reported having a stressful job had a 23% higher heart attack than those who reported not having a stressful job. The key factors were that the people with stressful jobs felt that they had little control over their jobs and were under heavy work expectations. Even though this study was primarily observational, these findings still provide plenty of food for thought about the possible dangers of chronic stress.

Reed Guest Blogs: Why Oscar winners live longer

/in , , /by

This Guest Blog Post is from Reed Vierra, one of Dr. T’s Health Psychology students:

In this podcast, they cover three different research projects which detail the interesting phenomena of why people who win Nobel prizes, Oscars, and get inducted into the Hall of Fame tend to outlive their peers by a significant length of time. They specifically detail the correlation between longevity and social status. It’s interesting to note that income is not the main factor in the differences! It’s believed that the difference in longevity is from the reduction in stress in future years after being commemorated since they no longer face the same level of stress in trying to impress their peers and critics.

Being honest about why we diet…

/in , , /by

New Years has just passed, which means that most likely, at least a handful of people you know have resolved to lose weight in 2013. While many people may say their weight loss efforts are aimed at improving health, this awesome op-ed piece by Abigail Saguy discusses all the reasons why health is not the primary motivation. The article discusses a recent poll of dieters, which found that more than 75% would take a pill to lose weight, even if that would shorten their lifespan. Moreover, 91% said they would NOT take a pill that would add years to their life if that pill also ensured they would remain overweight. Overall, this piece is an interesting and important discussion of the intertwined relationships among weight, health, discrimination, and dieting.

Fructose vs. Glucose in your brain

/in , /by

Fructose and glucose sound pretty similar, and both even taste sweet, but it turns that they affect your brain in very different ways. This new study from Yale University examined the individual effects of fructose and glucose by conudcting MRI scans after ingestion of each sugar. The results revealed that glucose led to much greater reduction in the hypothalamus, the brain region that regulates appetite and reward processing, and greater feelings of satiety. On the other hand, sucrose ingestion demonstrated less reduction in the hypothalamus and lower levels of the hormone that regulates satiety. These findings suggest that even though they both taste sweet, sucrose may actually increase our appetite and eating.

 

Longterm benefits of being overweight

/in /by

It’s a pretty common belief nowadays that being overweight is unhealthy. But a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, analyzing over 100 studies encompassing nearly 3 million people, made surprising discovery: “Overweight” people (as measured by the BMI scale) actually have a lower mortality risk than those whose BMI falls in the “normal” range. Moreover, even though “obese” did have the highest mortality risk overall, the lower boundary of this category actually had the same mortality risk as normal weight. This finding not only challenges the common conception of weight and health, but it also emphasizes the important point that BMI alone is not a sufficient – or even valid – indicator of health.