Exercise

Exercise can help kids stave off negative effects of maternal obesity

Researchers have found that off springs whose mothers were fed a high-fat diet during pregnancy and nursing were able to stave off some of the detrimental health effects of obesity by exercising during their adolescence.

It was found that even though the rat offspring weighed the same as their sedentary counterparts, the exercising rats had fewer fat deposits and their brains were better able to respond to a hormone known to suppress the appetite, long after they stopped running on their exercise wheels.

Because mammals (including rats and humans) share much of their biology, the findings suggest that childhood exercise might help mitigate some of the risks that human children of obese parents are biologically primed to follow in their parents’ footsteps and to develop diabetes and other obesity-related disorders.

“Just three weeks of exercise early in life had a persistent effect on the satiety centres of the brains of these rat pups,” study’s lead author Kellie L. K. Tamashiro, Ph.D., an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said. “If we can find a way to take advantage of th

at phenomenon in humans that would be great, because preventing obesity is probably going to be much easier to do than reversing it.”

Tamashiro and her colleagues fed pregnant rats a high-fat diet and continued that diet while they were nursing their pups. The animals were weaned on a healthier, standard low-fat diet and at four weeks of age, the equivalent of rodent early adolescence, some were given free access to running wheels in their cages, while the others remained sedentary.

To determine the impact of the exercise on appetite, at 14 weeks of age, the rats’ brains were injected with the appetite-suppressing hormone leptin. Those that had exercised weeks before ate less, while the sedentary rats showed no differences in their appetites.

The study is published in the American Journal of Physiology

Exercise may help pregnant women quit smoking

For pregnant women who want to quit smoking, a brisk walk can temporarily stave off tobacco cravings, says a Canadian study.

Previous research has shown that exercise can interrupt nicotine cravings for both men and women. Whether the same was true for expecting mothers was unclear because pregnant women have increased metabolism, which can intensify longings for a cigarette, the researchers write in the journal Addictive Behaviors.

“This was the first time we have been able to replicate the findings with pregnant smokers,” Harry Prapavessis said.

Prapavessis, director of the Exercise and Health Psychology Laboratory at Western University in Ontario, Canada, led the research.

According to his team’s results, 15 to 20 minutes of walking at a mild to moderate pace is sufficient to ward off cravings.

For the study, researchers recruited 30 pregnant women in their second trimester in Canada and England. All of the women smoked more than five cigarettes a day and were not regular exercisers.

Half of the women were assigned to walk on a treadmill and the rest to watch a home gardening video for 20 minutes. Both groups did not smoke for between 15 and 19 hours before entering the lab.

The walkers reported an average 30 percent reduction in the desire to smoke based on a seven-point scale. But the cravings returned. Thirty minutes after exercising, the same group of women reported only a 17 percent craving reduction.

The exercising women also reported less irritability, restlessness, tension and other withdrawal symptoms. But because of the study’s small size, those results could have happened by chance.

“This translates not as a cure for quitting, but it can be part of a strategy,” said Dr. Sharon Phelan, who was not involved in the study.

Phelan is a fellow with the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and professor at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine in Albuquerque.

“The challenge is that there isn’t one reason why pregnant women have an addiction,” Phelan said.

“I think it’s a very positive study,” said Dr. Raul Artal of Saint Louis University School of Medicine in Missouri. Artal helped write exercise and pregnancy guidelines for ACOG.

He said the new study will need to be repeated according to medicine’s gold standard of testing – a randomized, controlled trial. “But, based on common sense, the message is good,” he said.

Prapavessis said his team’s results can only be applied to women about 25 years old, the average age in the study. But, “I would like to think that we can repeat the findings with older or younger pregnant smokers.”

Prapavessis pointed out that because of the social stigma associated with smoking while pregnant, recruiting pregnant women for such studies can be extremely difficult.

The next step, he said, would be to repeat the results with women walking in natural environments outside of their homes. “We want to see if this craving effect can be reproduced when women go for a brisk walk for about 15 minutes in their natural setting,” he said.

Pregnant women also have the option to try nicotine replacement therapy drugs, like skin patches or lozenges, but more evidence is needed to know if these are completely safe during pregnancy, Phelan said.

To help pregnant smokers quit, Phelan stressed the importance of understanding the underlying reasons why a pregnant woman smokes. “It’s like when someone has a fever. You can treat it with an aspirin, but you haven’t gotten to the underlying cause.”

“One therapy for everyone isn’t going to fit all,” Phelan noted. Still, regardless of whether a woman has stopped smoking, exercise offers positive benefits, like improved circulation and muscle tone she said.

ACOG supports 30 minutes of light exercise like walking three or four times a week during pregnancy, Phelan said, but pregnant women should always talk with their healthcare provider before beginning exercise.

To beat cigarette cravings, she said, “This is a valid option to suggest to women and it may be helpful for some, but not to others.”

Source: Zee news

5 Easy Ways to kick up Your Metabolism

Metabolism is the set of chemical transformations within the cells that is necessary for the maintenance of life. Putting it simple, right from breaking down the food to transforming it into energy, metabolism is the sum total of the entire internal biological processes.

Some people have great metabolism, as what they eat is never seen on their bodies, whereas some have it real slow. Though you can’t blame yourself for the slow metabolic rate you can definitely notch it up by following the simple tips:

Don’t skip your breakfast: ‘Eat breakfast like a king’ goes the adage. Your metabolism slows down during the night and if you skip your breakfast it further goes for a toss to conserve energy. This in turn can lead to unhealthy food choices in the day leading to weight problems. Having a healthy breakfast helps improve metabolism.

Exercise: Muscle burns more calories than fat. So, the harder your muscles work, the more post-workout rebuilding they have to do, thus increasing your metabolic rate. Go for 30 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise a day and 30 to 40 minutes strength training twice a week to keep your metabolism up

Switch to Green tea: Green tea contain antioxidant catechin which according to researchers help improve fat oxidation and thermogenesis, your body’s production of energy, or heat, from digestion.

Spice it up: Capsaicin, which gives peppers and spices their heat, helps increase energy expenditure by 50 calories a day. So if you like it spicy, do not worry, all that spice only gives that extra need kick to your metabolism.

Sleep well: Not getting enough sleep throws off your levels of leptin and ghrelin, the hormones that help regulate energy use and appetite thus slowing the metabolism and increasing the risks of obesity.

Source: Mens health