Adding a few miles of biking each day to your commute might add years to your life span, new research suggests. The British study found that bicycling to work appeared to halve people’s odds for serious disease and premature death.
Researchers from the University of Glasgow in Scotland looked at the commuting habits of more than 264,000 people in the United Kingdom and tracked their health over five years.
Cycling to work was associated with a 46 percent lower risk of heart disease over five years and a 45 percent lower risk of cancer compared to a sedentary commute. Risk of premature death was 41 percent lower. Walking to work was also beneficial, but not to the same degree.
Hoofing it was associated with a 27 percent lower risk of heart disease and a 36 percent lower risk of dying from heart disease. However, it wasn’t linked with a lower risk of cancer or premature death, the study found.
The study doesn’t establish a direct cause-and-effect relationship between commuting by bike and longevity.
Still, “if these associations are causal, these findings suggest that policies designed to make it easier for people to commute by bike … may present major opportunities for public health improvement,” said researcher Dr. Jason Gill in a university news release. He’s with the Institute of Cardiovascular and Medical Sciences.
Gill suggested bike lanes, city bike-sharing, subsidized bicycle purchases and increased accommodation of bicycles on public transit.
The researchers said cycle commuting may offer greater health benefits than walking because cyclists cover longer distances, get more intense exercise, and have higher levels of fitness than walkers.
For example, cyclists commuted an average of 30 miles a week, compared with 6 miles a week for walkers.
The study was published April 20 in the journal BMJ.
The scope of our information is limited to chiropractic and spinal injuries and conditions. To discuss options on the subject matter, please feel free to ask Dr. Jimenez or contact us at 915-850-0900 .
SOURCE: University of Glasgow, news release, April 20, 2017
Additional Topics: Chiropractic and Athletic Performance
Chiropractic care is a popular, alternative treatment option which focuses on the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of injuries and/or conditions associated to the musculoskeletal and nervous system, primarily the spine. Many athletes, and civilians alike, seek chiropractic care to restore their natural health and wellness, however, chiropractic has been demonstrated to benefit athletes by increasing their athletic performance.
�Lets take a look at the 7 minute and 9 minute workout.
The New York Times has a new super quick workout routine that you can do anywhere, even if you can�t make it to the gym today. I tried it, though, and… hey, wait, am I the only one actually doing these?
Short, intense workouts seem like a good idea on paper. If you�re not already working out, it�s probably because you feel like you don�t have time to get to the gym. But does anyone do these short workouts? Sure, I have nine minutes and some floor space, but do I want to get my work clothes sweaty? And if I�m going to the trouble of changing, why wouldn�t I just head out the door for a run, or turn on Sworkit or Nike Training Club and get something a little closer to a full workout?
After all, the seven-minute workout that got the New York Times started on their repertoire of super short workouts has an odd history. It was published in a scientific journal, but that doesn�t mean any scientists tested whether it was easy to stick to or whether it gave the promised results. Instead, it was designed using hints from previous research, aiming to give people a mini strength workout at a fast enough pace to count as cardio. The designers were coaches at a corporate wellness institute. In other words, people that your boss pays to make you exercise.
We love to talk about these short workouts, but I�m not seeing any evidence that people care to get in a quick couple of minutes of strength or circuit training. The new nine-minute workout dropped earlier this month, but I�ve scoured social media and found almost nobody enthusing or complaining about what it�s like to do this workout�just post after post sharing the fact that it exists.
So, How Is the Nine Minute Workout?
First of all, the nine minute workout actually takes 11 minutes. I just want you to know that going in. There are nine exercises, though, and you do each for one minute. Here�s the structure:
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One minute of squats, one minute of push-ups, one minute of mountain climbers.
Rest one minute.
One minute of forearm plank, one minute of jumping split squats, one minute of single-leg hip bridges.
Rest one minute.
One minute of burpees with push-ups, geez, hardcore. One minute of single leg toe touches. One minute of leg raises.
This seems like an exercise program that doesn�t know what it wants to be. The NYT touts it as a strength program, but then says it�s designed according to the �principles of high-intensity interval training�known as H.I.I.T.�
It ends up being a hybrid that doesn�t accomplish either. If you want to build strength by fatiguing your legs doing split squats, you�ll be done before the minute is out. But if you try to stretch out the exercises to fill a full minute, you�ll have to do them at a slower pace than HIIT requires.
And that�s exactly how this workout went. One minute felt way too long for some exercises, too short for others, and overall it didn�t really feel like a strength session or an interval workout. It was fine for what it was, though! A little something that challenges your body in a much better way than sitting at your desk or on your couch for the same amount of time. Still, if that�s your goal, you can find better exercise plans than this awkward one.
El Paso, TX. Chiropractor Dr. Alex Jimenez takes a look at parenthood and longer life.
Parents, take courage. If you survive the sleep deprivation, toddler tantrums and teenage angst, you may be rewarded with a longer life than your childless peers, researchers said Tuesday.
Fathers gained more in life expectancy than mothers, a team wrote in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health — and particularly in older age.
“By the age of 60, the difference in life expectancy… may be as much as two years” between people with, and those without, children, they concluded.
Researchers tracked the lifespan of men and women born between 1911 and 1925 and living in Sweden — more than 1.4 million people in total.
Data Was Gathered On Whether The Participants Were Married & Had Children
Men and women with at least one child had “lower death risks” than childless ones, the team concluded.
“At 60 years of age, the difference in life expectancy was two years for men and 1.5 years for women” compared to peers with no kids, the researchers wrote.
By age 80, men who fathered children had a remaining life expectancy of seven years and eight months, compared to seven years for childless men, said the team.
For mothers, life expectancy at 80 was nine years and six months, while for childless women it was eight years and 11 months.
The study merely pointed out a correlation, and cannot conclude that having children is the cause of the life expectancy gains, the researchers admitted.
But they theorised that parents may benefit from social and financial support from their children in older age, which childless people lose out on.
It Could Be That Childless People Live Unhealthier Lifestyles Than Parents Do
The association between having children and longer life was found in married and unmarried people, but appeared to be strongest in single, older men, said the study.
This could be because unmarried men relied more heavily on their offspring in the absence of a partner.
The study did not echo previous research which found that having daughters is more beneficial for longevity than sons.
Fewer and fewer people are having children in Sweden at the same time as older people are spurning old age institutions to receive care at home — often by their children.
“Therefore, to further investigate health and survival consequences for childless older individuals is of importance,” wrote the team.
The need to take a daily run might be something that spreads person-to-person, new research shows.
How much people run can depend to a certain extent on their responses to other people’s running, according to the findings from the analysis of social network data worldwide, The New York Times reported.
The results of the study in the journal Nature Communications also suggest that if you want to improve your running performance, it might be a good idea to become virtual friends with people who are a bit slower.
The researchers concluded that “running can be socially contagious,” said study leader Sinan Aral, professor of management, MIT, The Times reported.
“In general, if you run more, it is likely that you can cause your friends to run more,” Aral said.
For many people, eating healthy means eating organic whenever possible. But choosing only organic foods can take effort and be costly. So when does it make the most sense?
Experts from the University of Texas suggest feeding young children organic foods whenever possible to limit their exposure to pesticides. Adults should make their primary goal to eat healthy in general. In other words, make sure you’re getting enough fruits and vegetables in your diet before worrying about whether they’re organic.
Next, add in organic foods as your budget allows. Some organic fruits and vegetables are only slightly more expensive than non-organic varieties, so focus on them before the more expensive ones. You might also look for foods on which organic has the most impact. Generally, produce that you peel before eating will have less pesticide residue so it makes more sense to spend money on organic cherries than on organic bananas.
However, aside from limiting your exposure to pesticides, there’s little conclusive evidence that organic foods are healthier.
But there are other reasons — from taste to the idea of putting fewer chemicals in the soil — that might influence you to go organic. In the end, it’s often a very personal decision.
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