Good diet, exercise stave off dementia
Living a healthy lifestyle not only protect against heart disease and stroke, it also helps keep Alzheimer’s at bay, according to a new research.
Swedish scientists have found that the risk of dementia has declined over the past 20 years, in contrast to what had been assumed.
And they put it down to lower rates of heart disease, which results from people living more healthily and keeping fit and active.
A balanced diet, being careful about weight, stopping smoking and keeping blood pressure normal have been shown to bolster the brain.
Studies have found risk factors for heart disease in middle age speed up decline of brain function in older adults. They also showed medicines such as statins and aspirin taken for heart conditions could be key to slashing dementia rates.
More women suffer from heart diseases than men
More young women suffer from cardiovascular problems than men, heart experts have revealed.
According to British Heart Foundation (BHF) research, there are 710,000 women across the UK, aged 16-44, living with heart disease compared to 570,000 men, the Independent reported.
Professor Peter Weissberg, BHF medical director, said clear signs of heart complaints are going unnoticed by women.
“There’s a great tendency for women to ignore symptoms because they think of it as a man’s problem. Women are affected by heart disease and sometimes more than men,” he said.
Doctors believe the higher rates among women are due in part to their susceptibility to certain rarer diseases, such as coronary artery dissection, where around eight out of ten cases are women.
They warn these rare conditions are going seriously under-researched.
Amongst the conditions which young women are prone to - and which experts say need more research - are valvular heart disease, dissection of the coronary artery and heart complications associated with lupus.
Gardening helpful to shed extra pounds
People who participate in community gardening have a significantly lower body mass index, as well as lower odds of being overweight or obese, than their non-gardening neighbours, a new study has found.
“It has been shown previously that community gardens can provide a variety of social and nutritional benefits to neighborhoods. But until now, we did not have data to show a measurable health benefit for those who use the gardens,” Cathleen Zick, lead author of the study and professor of family and consumer studies at the University of Utah said.
To gauge a health benefit, researchers used body mass index, or BMI, a calculation based on a person’s height and weight and which is widely used to screen for weight categories that may lead to health problems.
In general, a normal BMI ranges from 18.5 to 24.9; a smaller number is better than a larger one.
Results showed that women community gardeners had an average BMI 1.84 lower than their neighbors, which translates to an 11 pound weight difference for a woman 5 feet 5 inches tall.
Living a healthy lifestyle not only protect against heart disease and stroke, it also helps keep Alzheimer’s at bay, according to a new research.
Swedish scientists have found that the risk of dementia has declined over the past 20 years, in contrast to what had been assumed.
And they put it down to lower rates of heart disease, which results from people living more healthily and keeping fit and active.
A balanced diet, being careful about weight, stopping smoking and keeping blood pressure normal have been shown to bolster the brain.
Studies have found risk factors for heart disease in middle age speed up decline of brain function in older adults. They also showed medicines such as statins and aspirin taken for heart conditions could be key to slashing dementia rates.
More women suffer from heart diseases than men
More young women suffer from cardiovascular problems than men, heart experts have revealed.
According to British Heart Foundation (BHF) research, there are 710,000 women across the UK, aged 16-44, living with heart disease compared to 570,000 men, the Independent reported.
Professor Peter Weissberg, BHF medical director, said clear signs of heart complaints are going unnoticed by women.
“There’s a great tendency for women to ignore symptoms because they think of it as a man’s problem. Women are affected by heart disease and sometimes more than men,” he said.
Doctors believe the higher rates among women are due in part to their susceptibility to certain rarer diseases, such as coronary artery dissection, where around eight out of ten cases are women.
They warn these rare conditions are going seriously under-researched.
Amongst the conditions which young women are prone to - and which experts say need more research - are valvular heart disease, dissection of the coronary artery and heart complications associated with lupus.
Gardening helpful to shed extra pounds
People who participate in community gardening have a significantly lower body mass index, as well as lower odds of being overweight or obese, than their non-gardening neighbours, a new study has found.
“It has been shown previously that community gardens can provide a variety of social and nutritional benefits to neighborhoods. But until now, we did not have data to show a measurable health benefit for those who use the gardens,” Cathleen Zick, lead author of the study and professor of family and consumer studies at the University of Utah said.
To gauge a health benefit, researchers used body mass index, or BMI, a calculation based on a person’s height and weight and which is widely used to screen for weight categories that may lead to health problems.
In general, a normal BMI ranges from 18.5 to 24.9; a smaller number is better than a larger one.
Results showed that women community gardeners had an average BMI 1.84 lower than their neighbors, which translates to an 11 pound weight difference for a woman 5 feet 5 inches tall.
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