This comprehensive Newsweek article is a must read.  It clearly documents the increasingly held scientific view that there is a direct link between exercise and improved cognition.

 

Please read the whole article, but here are some of the main points:

 

1. In a study involving 259 Illinois grade school children, “kids with the fittest bodies were the ones with the fittest brains even when factors such as socioeconomic status were taken into account.”
2. “Last week, in a landmark paper, researchers announced that they had coaxed the human brain into growing new nerve cells, a process that for decades had been thought impossible, simply by putting subjects on a three-month aerobic-workout regimen.”
3. “Researchers are realizing that the mental effects of exercise are far more profound and complex than they once thought.    Exercise ramps up bodily production of certain chemicals, including brain-derived neurotrophic factor or “BDNF.”  “BDNF fuels almost all the activities that lead to higher thought… and… “brains with more of it have a greater capacity for knowledge.”
4.  Exercise may not only slow the aging process in the brain, it may actually reverse it.
5. “Dopamine, serotonin, norepinephrine—all of these are elevated after a bout of exercise, so having a workout will help with focus, calming down, impulsivity…”
6. To keep the beneficial effects of exercise on the brain, you have to keep working out.  The benefits fade if you quit.
7. “Early studies suggest that people who exercise at least a few times a week tend to develop Alzheimer's less often and later than their more sedentary counterparts.”
8. Weight training seems to be less effective than aerobic exercise.  More studies are needed here.
9. The ability to replicate the beneficial effects of exercise on cognition in a pill is a long way off, but scientists are studying this kind of synthesis.

 

 

 

This summary doesn’t do the article justice.  Please read it all.  If you were lacking motivation to gear up your exercise program, this article will provide it.

A common erectile dysfunction medication could help reduce scar tissue after radical prostate surgery, say doctors at Baylor College of Medicine.

Dr. Larry Lipshultz, professor of urology, and Dr. Mohit Khera, clinical post doctorate fellow of urology, will follow 60 men after they undergo total removal of the prostate due to cancer.

"After surgery, many men find themselves suffering from erectile dysfunction," Khera said. "Nerves in the area become damaged and blood flow decreases."

Many delay their treatment of erectile dysfunction (ED) hoping their erections will improve, but Khera said that allows scar tissue to form. The scar tissue can then make it difficult for men to regain their natural penile functions. Read more about ED.

"The study uses Viagra which will be taken every night before bed to increase the flow of blood and oxygen to the penis during sexual content dreams, which happen on average three times a night for men," Lipshultz said. "Better oxygen and blood flow promotes healthy tissue instead of scar tissue."

This study is a follow-up to one Lipshultz worked on four years ago. The results to the first study showed the return of unassisted erections to be 24 percent more than without the therapy. This current study will begin the treatment sooner than in the first study, hoping the recovery rate will increase.

"We are finding that a daily dose helps men get a faster return of natural erection and they heal faster." Khera said. "Patients with low testosterone levels after surgery do not respond well to Viagra, so we are adding testosterone replacement therapy in these patients as well."

Lipshultz and Khera still advise their patients to refrain from sexual intercourse for at least three months after surgery.

The current study is being funded by an $83,000 grant from Auxilium Pharmaceuticals.


Source : Exduco

This globeandmail.com article by Leslie Beck summarizes recent studies that show the Atkins diet is quite effective in helping dieters lose weight.  The article describes the Atkins diet thusly:

 

“What is it: Followers drastically cut carbohydrates by shunning breads, cereals, pasta, rice, fruit and milk and emphasizing protein-rich foods such as cheese, meat, poultry and fish.

Author: Dr. Robert Atkins first published his diet approach in 1972 in a book called Dr. Atkins' Diet Revolution.”

In the study, the average weight loss over 12 months was 10.3 pounds, compared to 3.5 pounds for the “Zone” diet and 4.8 pounds for the “Ornish” diet.

“Based on a comparison of four weight-loss diets, the low-carbohydrate diet was deemed most effective at helping overweight women shed pounds.’

Somewhat surprisingly to many people, even the though the Atkins diet is the antithesis of a “low fat” diet, the study “demonstrated the low-carb diet was not only the most successful at promoting weight loss, it also did not raise blood pressure or significantly boost cholesterol.   Other recent studies comparing weight-loss diets also reported that triglycerides, HDL cholesterol and blood pressure were not significantly different or were more favourable among low-carbohydrate-diet followers.”

 This is certainly counter intuitive given the “red meat” reputation of the Atkins diet.

 At getftitsource.com our take-away on this report is as follows;

1.      Losing weight is more important to your overall health than trying to maintain a healthful “low fat” regimen which doesn’t reduce your weight. 

2.      The Atkins diet is quite effective.  However, it is almost impossible to stay on this diet long term and many participants gain back the weight they lost as soon as they stop the diet. The Atkins diet is not a sustainable source of weight loss

3.      Some of the weight loss in the Atkins diet is illusory as carbs make your body retain water at a greater rate than do proteins.  Hence, some of the weight loss is “water loss” which immediately reverses when you start eating carbs again.

4.      The best way to lose weight is to reduce overall calories and eat a wide variety of foods.  Avoid “refined carbs” but not other carbs.