There are many facets of our lifestyle that affect our long-term health. Here are just a few of them.
Yo-yo dieting is a common result of regular dieting. It means putting all the weight back on (with interest) after stopping the diet. However, scientists believe that a simple berry native to North America could break the vicious cycle of yo-yo dieting.
Researchers have discovered that the chokeberry (Aronia), which is full of antioxidants and available as a dietary supplement from some health food stores, regulates weight gain, blood glucose and insulin levels.
So far, however, the supplement has only been tested in laboratory conditions. Nevertheless, researchers are confident that similar beneficial effects will be seen in humans too.
Depression is a common condition. The state of your mind has a direct effect on how quickly you recover from illness. A new study has discovered that wounds in depressed and anxious people heal more slowly than they do in those with more positive outlooks. In addition, they have found that a very depressed person’s wounds may even become worse.
Researchers at the University of Nottingham in the UK investigated the speed at which foot ulcers healed in 93 diabetic patients. Over a 24-week period, they monitored the progress of the healing process and found that the ulcers of those who had a more confrontational attitude took longer to heal. The ulcers of those who were depressed or anxious didn’t shrink and tended not to heal at all (Diabetologia, 2010).
Once a woman has suffered breast cancer, the aim is for it not to return. A study has discovered that breast cancer doesn’t return if the sufferer can live a life without any stress. A happy woman has a stronger immune system.
In a study of 227 women with recently diagnosed breast cancer, around half were taught psychological skills aimed at reducing their stress levels.
Those who went through the stress-reducing programme had a 45 per cent lower risk of breast cancer recurrence, even after 11 years.
In addition, those who had learned the stress-reducing skills and who did develop breast cancer again were much more likely to survive it, say psychologists at the Ohio State University in Columbus, US (Clin. Cancer Res., 2010).
The importance of good gum health has been emphasised in a new study that has found an association between inflammation and loss of mental functioning. It appears that inflammation of the gums can lead to brain inflammation, which in turn can become neurodegenerative, thereby causing dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.
Researchers at the New York University made the connection after they found that Alzheimer’s patients had significantly higher levels of antibodies and inflammatory molecules from diseased gums and teeth compared with healthy people.
Living alone or feeling isolated is one of the biggest causes of illness
A lifestyle feature that can adversely affect our health is living alone or feeling isolated. Due to separation and divorce, more and more people are living alone. Living alone or feeling isolated is one of the biggest causes of illness. It is the equivalent of smoking 15 cigarettes a day or being an alcoholic, and is twice as harmful as obesity, according to a study.
Alternatively, having social connections with friends, family, neighbours and colleagues improves your chances of enjoying a long and healthy life by 50 per cent. Researchers from the Brigham Young University in Utah, US and the University of North Carolina reviewed 148 studies involving more than 300,000 participants.
They discovered that social isolation is one of the great, and yet unrecognised, risk factors in health. In making their discovery, the researchers measured the frequency of human interaction in relation to overall health over a seven-year period.
They went on to state that even the 50 per cent estimate may be too conservative, and that the real risk of social isolation to our health might actually be far greater (PLoS Med., 2010).
Finally, before the summer hits hard, there is interesting news about health and the sun. Cancer support groups are beginning to recognise that they may have gone too far with their advice to avoid sunshine. Because of stark warnings concerning the risk of skin cancer, adults have stayed out of the sun, thereby causing a widespread vitamin D deficiency (Vitamin D is the sunshine vitamin).
Between 40 per cent and 100 per cent of adults tested were deficient in the vitamin and cancer groups now believe that they may have contributed to this mass nutritional lack.
As a result, Cancer Research UK is drawing up new guidelines and may soon suggest that people should get some exposure to the midday sun. The current advice is to avoid the sun between 11am and 3pm, to wear protective clothing and cover ourselves in high-factor sunscreen. Now, however, in behind-the-scenes meetings, the charity is considering a new-position paper that recommends that people be exposed little and often to the midday sun.
The body obtains vitamin D from the sun; the skin doesn’t have to be tanned or burned; just about 15 minutes outdoors on a sunny day are enough.
kathryn@maltanet.net