Physical Activity Lowers Risk of Dementia, Anxiety, Sleep Problems, Etc. Etc.
Plus: Sleep myths, surviving Trump, and spotting fake facts
Welcome back to your weekly dose of wisdom and wellness, helping you make tomorrow a little better than today. In this weekly newsletter you’ll find links to several in-depth, actionable stories by Wise & Well’s team of journalists, topical experts and practicing professionals. First, this week’s health news brief:
You don’t have to run a marathon or pump iron daily to gain the benefits of physical activity. Past research has shown that just about any sort of movement—what scientists are starting to call light physical activity—boosts physical and mental health and, on average, extends lifespans.
New research piles on by suggesting moderate to vigorous physical activity (the sort that elevates your breathing rate) lowers the risk of dementia, stroke, anxiety, depression, and sleep disorders. The grab-bag of findings, based on a database of 73,411 people in the UK, point to associations but do not prove cause-and-effect. But they echo tons of other research on the benefits of getting off our butts.
The conclusions were presented this week at a meeting of the American Academy of Neurology.
The message is simple, if perhaps well-worn: If you’re sedentary or don’t move much, try to move more. And don’t wait—today is the best day to start improving your fitness. Be warned, however: In addition to the hard-to-notice long-term benefits, you’re apt to be in a better mood straight away. Here are some additional resources from our archives:
Here’s a selection of other actionable feature stories this week:
Surviving Trump: How to Remain Calm and Carry On
Lots of people in the US are ecstatic right now. Lots are despondent. For the latter group, here’s the thing: How we feel isn’t something that happens to us. It’s how we respond to stuff. This psychiatrist and neuroscientist has some great advice for anyone stressing about Trump and his erratic, aggressive, destructive and conflicting statements and actions. It starts with understanding why he behaves as he does.
I’ll let the political scientists and historians address the content of what Trump proposes, and the legal and organizational ways to address those problems. My focus here will be on ways to cope with the process of living through potentially four more years of the nation’s leader behaving in ways that are unpredictable, unprecedented, and unpresidential.
—John Kruse MD, PhD
Separating Facts from Quacks: How to Spot Fake Medical Info
As a science and health journalist, I know how hard it can be to sort fact from fantasy in the sea of information available online and in social media. But it’s unwise and even potentially dangerous to accept as fact whatever we read or hear if we don’t know the credibility of the information purveyor. This writer, a nurse, offers great suggestions on how to ferret out truth from BS. Here’s just one of her tips:
Reliable sources should openly state their credentials and expertise. An online wellness guru who claims to be a “renowned healer” but doesn’t provide their credentials should raise your eyebrow…and your suspicions.
—Andrea Romeo RN, BN
9 Really Tired Sleep Myths
You might’ve heard most people aren’t getting enough sleep, or that you need 8 or 9 hours of it. Those are among the misconceptions and misinformation around sleep, much of it promulgated by the industry selling sleeping pills, fancy mattresses and other sleep aids you probably don’t need. New research reveals we don’t even know how much we ourselves sleep!
In a new study, scientists in Japan monitored brain waves of sleeping people with electroencephalography (EEG) devices, then asked them how they thought they had slept. The participants’ subjective ratings rarely matched the reality of their sleep quality — how deep it was — or how much they were awake during the night.
—Robert Roy Britt
The Surprising Benefits of Omega-3 on Aging
There’s no fountain of youth. Aging cannot be reversed. But there are ways to slow the process down, which can result in better health and capability, and longer life. New research suggests Omega 3s slow biological aging down at the molecular level.
Essential fatty acids like Omega 3s — found in oily fish like tuna, salmon, and nuts, as well as in supplement form, have been linked to everything from better heart health to improved brain function. And now they may keep your cells younger.
—Annie Foley
Influencers Gravely Mislead to Hawk 5 Medical Tests You Don’t Need
The tests and scans sound good: full-body MRI, egg timer, testosterone level, multi-cancer early detection, gut microbiome. But new research reveals influencers tout the benefits without revealing the actual science.
Researchers analyzed 982 posts about medical tests, by influencers who have a combined following of nearly 200 million people. The analysis, detailed this week in the journal JAMA Network Open, found only 15% of posts mentioned potential harms; only 6% noted the risk of overdiagnosis; and only 6% mentioned any scientific evidence whatsoever. More than two-thirds of the posts came from influencers making money off the tests they promoted.
—Robert Roy Britt
I hope we’ve helped make your tomorrow a little better than today.
Cheers,
Rob