Exercise & Mobility

Only about one in five US adults is meeting the overall exercise guidelines set by the US government

Eating more legumes, vegetables and fruits and less meat is associated with lower mortality risk, accord-ing to a new study. But that doesnt mean becoming a vegetarian necessarily means youll live longer, cautions Alice H. Lichtenstein, DSc, director of Tufts HNRCA Cardiovascular Nutrition Laboratory.

You already know that vitamin D, the sunshine vitamin, is important to help your body use calcium for strong bones. But vitamin Ds role in boosting muscles is also emerging in scientific studies, with implications for disability and the capacity to perform daily chores with aging. As the days get shorter and it becomes more difficult for your body to synthesize vitamin D from sun exposure on the skin, you may not be getting enough for long-term healthy aging.

Answer :An excellent starting point is the Growing Stronger: Strength Training for Older Adults program, developed by experts at Tufts and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Growing Stronger is an exercise program based upon sound scientific research involving exercises that have been shown to increase the strength of your muscles, maintain the integrity of your bones, and improve your balance, coordination and mobility. At the Web site growingstronger.nutrition.tufts.edu you can jump right into…

Two new studies suggest ways that lifestyle changes can help postmenopausal women reduce their risk of breast cancer.

Can active video games such as those played with the motion-controlled Nintendo Wii give you enough of a workout to count toward the goal of 30 minutes of daily exercise? A new study (funded by Nintendo) offers a cautious yes, demonstrating that playing games included in the Wii Sports and Wii Fit packages can be the equivalent of walking on a treadmill at three miles an hour or faster. Thats the threshold for moderate-intensity activity, about 3 metabolic equivalents (METS), a measure of energy expenditure.

New government data suggest that while US levels of obesity and overweight remain far too high, the rate of increase may be slowing. About one-third of adults were obese in the latest analysis of data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).

In another new study on obesity, the toll of excess weight on Americans health and quality of life was reported to have overtaken that of smoking, even though tobacco still poses a greater mortality threat. The analysis of 15 years of public-health data concluded that by 2008, the obese were losing more quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) through disability and limitations on activity. That contrasts with 1993, when the QALYs lost to obesity were far behind the toll of smoking.

Heres more evidence that walking helps boost your brain-but you might have to step it up: In a study of 299 Pittsburgh seniors, those walking at least 72 blocks weekly had significantly greater gray-matter volume in subsequent MRI scans.

A home exercise program may help high-risk, elderly women avoid falls that lead to hip fractures, according to results of a seven-year study of 160 Finnish seniors. Falls are responsible for at least 90% of all hip frac- tures, noted Raija Korpelainen, PhD, of Oulu Deaconess Institute in Finland, and colleagues, reporting their results in Archives of In- ternal Medicine. Hip fractures place the greatest demands on resources and have the greatest effect on patients because they are associated with high mortality rates and increased morbidity.