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Posts tagged with 'exercise'

Recent research: lifestyle - five papers on sleep, exercise & stress management

26th February 2009

Here are five papers on lifestyle and the benefits of making healthy choices. The first by Cohen et al on sleep habits and susceptibility to the common cold, showed increased risk of developing a cold after infection for those with shorter sleep duration. Interestingly the increased risk was even greater …

NICE guidelines: January guidance including antisocial personality disorder

29th January 2009

Yesterday NICE - the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence in England & Wales - published guidance on a diverse range of fifteen clinical, technology, interventional and public health subjects. Their clinical guidance on Medicines Adherence interested me, as too did their public health guidance on Promoting Physical Activity …

Recent research: three papers on vitamin D, two on weight loss & one on IBS

2nd January 2009

Here's a gutsy, nutritional, low sunlight kind of blog post to suit our post-holiday season. First the gutsy bit. Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) - with its characteristic symptoms of abdominal pain, altered bowel habit, and possibly bloating - is very common, affecting about 15% of the population. Ford et al …

Recent research: prevention & treatment of overweight with changed eating behaviours, energy density & breastfeeding

26th December 2008

Here are six studies on eating and weight. The first, by Maruyama and colleagues, demonstrates a strong association between both "eating until full" and "eating quickly" and the chances of being overweight. The linked BMJ editorial by Denney-Wilson & Campbell discusses these findings further, including suggesting that "Clinicians should encourage …

Recent research: mind-body & body-mind effects for cancer, allergy, dementia, & mental health

18th December 2008

Here are five studies on the loose theme of how the mind affects the body, and the body affects the mind ... and that the distinction between mind and body is pretty arbitrary anyway. Using meta-analysis, Chida & colleagues highlight considerable evidence suggesting that stress-related psychosocial factors have an adverse …

Vegged out & fruitless: lifestyle & health

18th October 2008

Last month's BMJ published another in the long line of research articles that highlight the huge importance of lifestyle choices for our health: Dam, R. M. v., T. Li, et al. (2008). "Combined impact of lifestyle factors on mortality: prospective cohort study in US women." BMJ 337(sep16_2): a1440- [Free Full …

Would you like to be 14 years younger – it’s largely a matter of choice!

3rd October 2008

Back in January I wrote a blog post entitle "Does a healthy lifestyle really make a difference? " I highlighted that it makes a hell of a lot of a difference. At around that time another major study was published that hammered this point home even more thoroughly and I've …

Recent research: half a dozen depression & anxiety papers on CBT, telephones, exercise, relaxation, prevention and more

2nd October 2008

Here are half a dozen recent papers on aspects of depression and anxiety. They include an interesting overview on brain-psychology connections by Aaron Beck, one of the originators of CBT; a meta-analysis of studies on psychotherapy delivered by phone, internet & videoconferencing; details of a free database of studies on …

Draft SIGN non-pharmacological depression treatments guideline, 2nd post: exercise

13th September 2008

In yesterday's blog post, I gave some background to the SIGN guideline on non-pharmacological management of depression as well as details of how to download the draft guideline or see a webcast of the seminar where the draft guideline was presented. On the day of the seminar itself, last Wednesday, …

Recent research: exercise, diet, and smoking

4th September 2008

There are a series of interesting recent research studies here highlighting the drastic reduction in physical exercise taken by young people as they move into their teenage years, the fascinating protective association between muscular strength and mortality in men even allowing for cardiorespiratory fitness and other potentially confounding factors, the …