Day: 09/30/2013

Young mum ‘child death risk’ link

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Young mum ‘child death risk’.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-24296960

Thatcher’s story in prize shortlist

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Thatcher’s story in prize shortlist http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-24323852

Solving the mystery of why we sleep

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Solving the mystery of why we sleep. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24272445

Nasa plans 3D printer space launch

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Nasa plans 3D printer space launch http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24329296

Baby born after ovaries ‘reawakened’

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Baby born after ovaries ‘reawakened’ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-24332772

When Headhunters Call, Who Raises Their Hand?

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Corporate executives – from senior managers to the top boss – are expected to inspire loyalty among the rank and file. Yet when a recruiter calls with a new job opportunity, those same executives are apt to toss their hat in the ring.

Fifty-two percent of executives were willing to consider a new job when contacted by a leading executive search firm, according to a new paper from Monika Hamori of IE Business School in Madrid and Peter Cappelli of University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. The management professors analyzed raw data – responses from top managers at financial-services companies in the New York area in 2002 – provided by the search firm.

“It’s a little troubling that more than 50% are willing to search,” said Cappelli, who also runs Wharton’s Center for Human Resources. Managers and executives may publicly wring their hands over a lack of allegiance among workers, but in fact, people at the lower ranks tend to be more loyal than those at the top, he said.

And job searches at the executive level are complex, as the authors point out. They require not simply forwarding a resume but “time and energy to prepare for an interview and meet with the consultant, think through and brief appropriate references, etc.,” they write in the paper, to be published in a forthcoming issue of the journal Organization Science.

Such costs should weed out candidates who aren’t serious about a potential move, making the number of potential defectors especially striking, Cappelli said.

General economic conditions also affect job mobility, with workers becoming risk-averse during recessions or weak periods and more inclined to consider new opportunities during better times. Although the data in the study is over a decade old, Cappelli said the economy today is in a similar place in the business cycle as it was in 2002, when the U.S. was recovering from the dot-com bust and subsequent recession.

Among high-ranking executives, senior managers and executive vice presidents were more willing than CFOs, presidents, chairmen and CEOs to submit their candidacies for a search.

Certain factors help predict whether an executive would consider jumping to a new employer, the researchers found, offering some guidance to firms that want to keep their high performers.

For example, executives with broad work experience – such as stints in different industries or international posts at their current company – are more prone to entertain new job opportunities.

“International assignments tend to cause people to be footloose afterwards, and rotational assignments look like they’re associated with people being more willing to leave,” said Cappelli.

That might make firms think twice as they develop people by moving them around. First, by exposing executives to more geographic or business functions, it increases the breadth of opportunities that recruiters will contact them for. Second, managers who have moved around a lot have fewer social bonds keeping them tied to their firms.

What’s more, uncertainty – created by mergers, the departure of a CEO or a major shift in corporate strategy – also increases the chances an executive will return a recruiter’s call.

While some executives might participate in a search with no intention of departing – but only to attract an offer and use it to negotiate a better deal at their current employer – Cappelli suggested that tactic could backfire.

“That’s really risky in the executive ranks, where reputation is much more important than short-term gains,” he said.

 

Soure:WSJ

Secrets of Effective Office Humor.

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Making colleagues laugh takes timing, self-confidence—and the ability to rebound from a blooper.

Margot Carmichael Lester loves making good-natured jokes at work. As owner of The Word Factory, a Carrboro, N.C., content-creation company, she looks for employees with a sense of humor. “I only want to work with people who can take a joke.”

Sometimes, though, her jokes fall flat. Last month, at a meeting with insurance-industry clients, she poked fun—gently—at how people often view their insurers: “I mean, who really expects to hear, ‘I’m calling from your insurance company and I’m here to help?’ ” The joke died amid a few titters, she says. While she recovered and completed the client project successfully, the memory lingers. “If you are funny and putting yourself out there, making yourself vulnerable, and people don’t respond? That hurts.”

Employers like to hire people with a sense of humor, research shows. And mixing laughter and fun into a company culture can attract skilled workers, according to a study last year in the journal Human Relations. A 2011 study at Pennsylvania State University found that a good laugh activates the same regions of the brain that light up over a fat bonus check.

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But the office can be a comedic minefield. Making colleagues laugh takes timing, self-confidence—and the ability to rebound from a blooper.

“People will like you better if they find you funny. They will also think you are smarter,” says Scott Adams, creator of the popular syndicated cartoon “Dilbert.” But “if you’ve never been funny before, trying to start in the workplace—the most important place you’ll ever be in your life”—is a terrible idea, says Mr. Adams, author of a new book, “How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big.”

Fred Kilbourne says his knack for funny banter has helped his career as an actuary, making him a sought-after speaker and participant in professional groups. “Actuarial work can be pretty dull and deadly, and I’m always looking for a way to make it a little lighter,” says Mr. Kilbourne, of San Diego. “People say, ‘I can’t tell when you’re kidding.’ My usual answer is, ‘If my lips are moving, I’m kidding.’ “

Not that he hasn’t had a few missteps. He once cracked a joke in the middle of a serious discussion by a committee on auto-insurance risk, prompting a fellow participant to say, ” ‘You know, we’re trying to get something serious done here, and this is not helpful,’ ” recalls Mr. Kilbourne. “He was right,” he says. “I was a serious contributor for the rest of the meeting.”

Office jokesters must be ready with a funny comeback if they drop a clunker, making sure to deliver it in a warm, non-sarcastic tone, says Michael Kerr, a Calgary, Alberta, speaker, author and consultant on humor at work. Turn the joke on yourself. For example: “It takes a special human being to do what I just did,” or, “This is great. I was feeling a little under-stressed today,” Mr. Kerr says.

It is also important to read the nuances of co-workers’ moods and attitudes and pick the right context for jokes, says Andrew Tarvin, a New York City humor coach. Mr. Adams says he watches listeners’ body language. If they tense up, or they avert their gaze or narrow their eyes, it isn’t a good time to crack wise.

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Most people know the taboos: Divisive racist, ethnic or sexist jokes, are out. Beyond those boundaries, a jokester should consider the ramifications if a joke showed up on Twitter or Facebook.

One way to keep humor positive is to apply the “yes–and” technique used in improvisational comedy, says Zach Ward, managing director of ImprovBoston, a Cambridge, Mass., theater and humor-training school. (Many students come there, he says, to build interpersonal skills they can use in the workplace.) A co-worker who hears a joke might “actively add to what you have you have said,” he says. If the sound system crashes during a presentation, for example, the speaker might say, “Was it something I said?” while other employees might play off and extend the witticism with, “It must have been your electrifying humor,” or “Whose turn was it to pay the electrical bill?”

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The best office humor brings people together, often through shared pranks or inside jokes, Mr. Tarvin says. For nearly three years, employees at Silver Lining Ltd. held monthly “corporate jargon days” when they tried to use as much vague, bureaucratic language as possible, says Carissa Reiniger, founder and chief executive of the New York City-based small-business management consulting firm.

A study published earlier this year in the Leadership & Organization Development Journal says executives and managers who use self-deprecating humor appear more approachable and human to subordinates.

Paul Spiegelman, co-founder of BerylHealth, a Bedford, Texas, medical call-center company, stars in annual office videos. One year, he was shown applying for jobs as a short-order cook and a theater projectionist because he didn’t “feel valued any more at the company.” Another year, in a parody of “Dancing with the Stars,” he donned in-line skates and a matador costume and danced with his chief operating officer.

Humor “breaks down silos and flattens the organization,” fostering employee loyalty and productivity, says Mr. Spiegelman, who recently sold the company to SteriCycle Inc., where he is chief culture officer.

Any employee, however, can use “self-enhancing” humor to make light of failures, polish her image or rise above stress, Dr. Cruthirds says. One study cited a team of co-workers who kidded each other almost constantly. In a meeting where one employee delivered a document with a mistake in it, a laughing co-worker accused him of failing his word-processing training. The perp’s comeback drew another laugh: “I find it really hard to be perfect at everything.”

Beth Slazak’s part-time job in a physician’s office requires taking calls about medical records from people who are often tense and rushed. To lighten things up, Ms. Slazak, of Cowlesville, N.Y., answers the phone with fictitious job titles. Her first one, “This is Beth, Office Ray of Sunshine,” made a co-worker sitting nearby spit out her coffee, Ms. Slazak says. Others include Dragon Slayer, Narnia Tour Guide, Zombie Defender and Hope for All Mankind.

Her boss and co-workers in the small office approve, she says, since they’re not the only ones who laugh: Callers almost always do, too. “If you can get somebody who sounds uptight to giggle, it’s totally a win,” says Ms. Slazak.

Source: WSJ.

Proteins Identified That May Help Brain Tumors Spread.

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Scientists at the University of Alabama at Birmingham have identified a molecular pathway that seems to contribute to the ability of malignant glioma cells in a brain tumor to spread and invade previously healthy brain tissue. Researchers said the findings, published Sept. 19, 2013, in the journal PLOS ONE, provide new drug-discovery targets to rein in the ability of these cells to move.

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Gliomas account for about a third of brain tumors, and survival rates are poor; only about half of the 10,000 Americans diagnosed with malignant glioma survive the first year, and only about one quarter survive for two years.

“Malignant gliomas are notorious, not only because of their resistance to conventional chemotherapy and radiation therapy, but also for their ability to invade the surrounding brain, thus causing neurological impairment and death,” said Hassan Fathallah-Shaykh, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor in the UAB Department of Neurology. “Brain invasion, a hallmark of gliomas, also helps glioma cells evade therapeutic strategies.”

Fathallah-Shaykh said there is a great deal of interest among scientists in the idea that a low-oxygen environment induces glioma cells to react with aggressive movement, migration and brain invasion. A relatively new cancer strategy to shrink tumors is to cut off the tumor’s blood supply – and thus its oxygen source – through the use of anti-angiogenesis drugs. Angiogenesis is the process of making new blood vessels.

“Stop angiogenesis and you shut off a tumor’s blood and oxygen supply, denying it the components it needs to grow,” said Fathallah-Shaykh. “Drugs that stop angiogenesis are believed to create a kind of killing field. This study identified four glioma cell lines that dramatically increased their motility when subjected to a low-oxygen environment – in effect escaping the killing field to create a new colony elsewhere in the brain.”

Fathallah-Shaykh and his team then identified two proteins that form a pathway linking low oxygen, or hypoxia, to increased motility.

“We identified a signaling protein that is activated by hypoxia called Src,” said Fathallah-Shaykh. “We also identified a downstream protein called neural Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome protein (N-WASP), which is regulated by Src in the cell lines with increased motility.”

The researchers then used protein inhibitors to shut off Src and N-WASP. When either protein was inhibited, low oxygen lost its ability to augment cell movement.

“These findings indicate that Src, N-WASP and the linkage between them – which is something we don’t fully understand yet – are key targets for drugs that would interfere with the ability of a cell to move.” said Fathallah-Shaykh. “If we can stop them from moving, then techniques such as anti-angiogenesis should be much more effective. Anti-motility drugs could be a key component in treating gliomas in the years to come.”

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com

The Effects of Fluoride on the Thyroid Gland

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There is a daunting amount of research studies showing that the widely acclaimed benefits on fluoride dental health are more imagined than real. My main concern however, is the effect of sustained fluoride intake on general health. Again, there is a huge body of research literature on this subject, freely available and in the public domain.

But this body of work was not considered by the York Review when their remit was changed from “Studies of the effects of fluoride on health” to “Studies on the effects of fluoridated water on health.” It is clearly evident that it was not considered by the BMA (Britsh Medical Association), British Dental Association (BDA), BFS (British Fluoridation Society) and FPHM, (Faculty for Public Health and Medicine) since they all insist, as in the briefing paper to Members of Parliament – that fluoridation is safe and non-injurious to health.

This is a public disgrace, I will now show by reviewing the damaging effects of fluoridation, with special reference to thyroid illness.

It has been known since the latter part of the 19th century that certain communities, notably in Argentina, India and Turkey were chronically ill, with premature ageing, arthritis, mental retardation, and infertility; and high levels of natural fluorides in the water were responsible. Not only was it clear that the fluoride was having a general effect on the health of the community, but in the early 1920s Goldemberg, working in Argentina showed that fluoride was displacing iodine; thus compounding the damage and rendering the community also hypothyroid from iodine deficiency.

Highly damaging to the thyroid gland

This was the basis of the research in the 1930s of May, Litzka, Gorlitzer von Mundy, who used fluoride preparations to treat over-active thyroid illness. Their patients either drank fluoridated water, swallowed fluoride pills or were bathed in fluoridated bath water; and their thyroid function was as a result, greatly depressed. The use in 1937 of fluorotyrosine for this purpose showed how effective this treatment was; but the effectiveness was difficult to predict and many patients suffered total thyroid loss. So it was given a new role and received a new name, Pardinon. It was marketed not for over-active thyroid disease but as a pesticide. (Note the manufacturer of fluorotyrosine was IG Farben who also made sarin, a gas used in World War II).

This bit of history illustrates the fact that fluorides are dangerous in general and in particular highly damaging to the thyroid gland, a matter to which I shall return shortly. While it is unlikely that it will be disputed that fluorides are toxic – let us be reminded that they are Schedule 2 Poisons under the Poisons Act 1972, the matter in dispute is the level of toxicity attributable to given amounts; in today’s context the degree of damage caused by given concentrations in the water supply. While admitting its toxicity, proponents rely on the fact that it is diluted and therefore, it is claimed, unlikely to have deleterious effects.

They could not be more mistaken

It seems to me that we must be aware of how fluoride does its damage. It is an enzyme poison. Enzymes are complex protein compounds that vastly speed up biological chemical reactions while themselves remaining unchanged. As we speak, there occurs in all of us a vast multitude of these reactions to maintain life and produce the energy to sustain it. The chains of amino acids that make up these complex proteins are linked by simple compounds called amides; and it is with these that fluorine molecules react, splitting and distorting them, thus damaging the enzymes and their activity. Let it be said at once, this effect can occur at extraordinary low concentrations; even lower than the one part per million which is the dilution proposed for fluoridation in our water supply.

The body can only eliminate half

Moreover, fluorides are cumulative and build up steadily with ingestion of fluoride from all sources, which include not just water but the air we breathe and the food we eat. The use of fluoride toothpaste in dental hygiene and the coating of teeth are further sources of substantial levels of fluoride intake. The body can only eliminate half of the total intake, which means that the older you are the more fluoride will have accumulated in your body. Inevitably this means the ageing population is particularly targeted. And even worse for the very young there is a major element of risk in baby formula made with fluoridated water. The extreme sensitivity of the very young to fluoride toxicity makes this unacceptable. Since there are so many sources of fluoride in our everyday living, it will prove impossible to maintain an average level of 1ppm as is suggested.

What is the result of these toxic effects?

First the immune system. The distortion of protein structure causes the immune proteins to fail to recognise body proteins, and so instigate an attack on them, which is Autoimmune Disease. Autoimmune diseases constitute a body of disease processes troubling many thousands of people: Rheumatoid Arthritis, Systemic Lupus Erythematosis, Asthma and Systemic Sclerosis are examples; but in my particular context today, thyroid antibodies will be produced which will cause Thyroiditis resulting in the common hypothyroid disease, Hashimoto’s Disease and the hyperthyroidism of Graves’ Disease.

Musculo Skeletal damage results further from the enzyme toxic effect; the collagen tissue of which muscles, tendons, ligaments and bones are made, is damaged. Rheumatoid illness, osteoporosis and deformation of bones inevitably follow. This toxic effect extends to the ameloblasts making tooth enamel, which is consequently weakened and then made brittle; and its visible appearance is, of course, dental fluorosis.

The enzyme poison effect extends to our genes; DNA cannot repair itself, and chromosomes are damaged. Work at the University of Missouri showed genital damage, targeting ovaries and testes. Also affected is inter uterine growth and development of the foetus, especially the nervous system. Increased incidence of Down’s Syndrome has been documented.

Fluorides are mutagenic. That is, they can cause the uncontrolled proliferation of cells we call cancer. This applies to cancer anywhere in the body; but bones are particularly picked out. The incidence of osteosarcoma in a study reporting in 1991 showed an unbelievable 50% increase. A report in 1955 in the New England Journal of Medicine showed a 400% increase in cancer of the thyroid in San Francisco during the period their water was fluoridated.

My particular concern is the effect of fluorides on the thyroid gland

Perhaps I may remind you about thyroid disease. The thyroid gland produces hormones which control our metabolism – the rate at which we burn our fuel. Deficiency is relatively common, much more than is generally accepted by many medical authorities: a figure of 1:4 or 1:3 by mid life is more likely. The illness is insidious in its onset and progression. People become tired, cold, overweight, depressed, constipated; they suffer arthritis, hair loss, infertility, atherosclerosis and chronic illness. Sadly, it is poorly diagnosed and poorly managed by very many doctors in this country.

What concerns me so deeply is that in concentrations as low as 1ppm, fluorides damage the thyroid system on 4 levels.

1. The enzyme manufacture of thyroid hormones within the thyroid gland itself. The process by which iodine is attached to the amino acid tyrosine and converted to the two significant thyroid hormones, thyroxine (T4) and liothyronine (T3), is slowed.

2. The stimulation of certain G proteins from the toxic effect of fluoride (whose function is to govern uptake of substances into each of the cells of the body), has the effect of switching off the uptake into the cell of the active thyroid hormone.

3. The thyroid control mechanism is compromised. The thyroid stimulating hormone output from the pituitary gland is inhibited by fluoride, thus reducing thyroid output of thyroid hormones.

4. Fluoride competes for the receptor sites on the thyroid gland which respond to the thyroid stimulating hormone; so that less of this hormone reaches the thyroid gland and so less thyroid hormone is manufactured.

These damaging effects, all of which occur with small concentrations of fluoride, have obvious and easily identifiable effects on thyroid status. The running down of thyroid hormone means a slow slide into hypothyroidism. Already the incidence of hypothyroidism is increasing as a result of other environmental toxins and pollutions together with wide spread nutritional deficiencies.

141 million Europeans are at risk

One further factor should give us deep anxiety. Professor Hume of Dundee, in his paper given earlier this year to the Novartis Foundation, pointed out that iodine deficiency is growing worldwide. There are 141 million Europeans are at risk; only 5 European countries are iodine sufficient. UK now falls into the marginal and focal category. Professor Hume recently produced figures to show that 40% of pregnant women in the Tayside region of Scotland were deficient by at least half of the iodine required for a normal pregnancy. A relatively high level of missing, decayed, filled teeth was noted in this non-fluoridated area, suggesting that the iodine deficiency was causing early hypothyroidism which interferes with the health of teeth. Dare one speculate on the result of now fluoridating the water?

Displaces iodine in the body

These figures would be worrying enough, since they mean that iodine deficiency, which results in hypothyroidism (thyroid hormone cannot be manufactured without iodine) is likely to affect huge numbers of people. What makes it infinitely worse, is that fluorine, being a halogen (chemically related to iodine), but very much more active, displaces iodine. So that the uptake of iodine is compromised by the ejection, as it were, of the iodine by fluorine. To condemn the entire population, already having marginal levels of iodine, to inevitable progressive failure of their thyroid system by fluoridating the water, borders on criminal lunacy.

I would like to place a scenario in front of those colleagues who favour fluoridation. A new pill is marketed. Some trials not all together satisfactory, nevertheless, show a striking improvement in dental caries. Unfortunately, it has been found to be thyrotoxic, mutagenic, immunosuppressive, cause arthritis and infertility in comparatively small doses over a relatively short period of time.

Do you think it should be marketed?

Fluoridation of the nation’s water supply will do little for our dental health; but will have catastrophic effects on our general health. We cannot, must not, dare not, subject our nation to this appalling risk.

References:

L Goldemberg – La Semana Med 28:628 (1921) – cited in Wilson RH, DeEds F -“The Synergistic Action Of Thyroid On Fluoride Toxicity” Endocrinology 26:851 (1940).
G Litzka – “Die experimentellen Grundlagen der Behandlung des Morbus Basedow und der Hyperthyreose mittels Fluortyrosin” Med Wochenschr 63:1037-1040 (1937) (discusses the basis of the use of fluorides in anti-thyroid medication, documents activity on liver, inhibition of glycolysis, etc.).

W May – “Behandlung der Hypothyreosen einschlieblich des schweren genuinen Morbus Basedow mit Fluor” Klin Wochenschr 16: 562 – 564 (1937).

Sarin: (GB: isopropyl methylphosono-fluoridate) is a colorless, odorless volatile liquid, soluble in water, first synthesized at IG Farben in 1938. It kills mainly through inhalation.

Cyclosarin (GF) and Thiosarin are variants. Pennsylvania Department of Healthdsf.health.state.pa.us/health/cwp/view.asp?a=171&q=233740

Sarin: (GB: CH3-P(=O)(-F)(-OCH(CH3)2)
Source: A FOA Briefing Book on Chemical Weapons opcw.org/resp/html/nerve.htmlGerhard Schrader, a chemist at IG Farben, was given the task of developing a pesticide. Two years later a phosphorus compound with extremely high toxicity was produced for the first time. IG Farben: “…the board of American IG Farben had three directors from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the most influential of the various Federal Reserve Banks. American IG Farben. also had interlocks with Standard Oil of New Jersey, Ford Motor Company, Bank of Manhattan (later to become the Chase Manhattan Bank), and AEG. (German General Electric) Source: Moody’s Manual of Investments; 1930, page 2149.”

Source: oawhealth.com

         

This Is What Happens to Your Body When You Exercise

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Story at-a-glance

  • One of the key health benefits of exercise is that it helps normalize your glucose, insulin, and leptin levels by optimizing insulin/leptin receptor sensitivity
  • Exercise-improved insulin/leptin receptor sensitivity is perhaps the most important factor for optimizing your overall health and preventing chronic disease
  • Exercise also encourages your brain to work at optimum capacity by causing your nerve cells to multiply, strengthening their interconnections, and protecting them from damage
  • Unexpected side effects of exercise include improved sexual function, changes in gene expression, clearer skin, and improved mood and sleep
  • Research shows that the “secret” to increased productivity and happiness on any given day is a long-term investment in regular exercise, and a little each day appears to go further than a lot once or twice a week.

One of the key health benefits of exercise is that it helps normalize your glucose, insulin, and leptin levels by optimizing insulin/leptin receptor sensitivity. This is perhaps the most important factor for optimizing your overall health and preventing chronic disease.

exercise-benefits

But exercise affects your body in countless other ways as well—both directly and indirectly. Here, however, even the most unexpected side effects are almost universally beneficial. For example, as illustrated in the featured article,1 side effects of exercise include but are not limited to:

What Happens in Your Body When You Exercise?

The featured article in Huffington Post2 highlights a number of biological effects that occur, from head to toe, when you exercise. This includes changes in your:

    • Muscles, which use glucose and ATP for contraction and movement. To create more ATP, your body needs extra oxygen, so breathing increases and your heart starts pumping more blood to your muscles.

Without sufficient oxygen, lactic acid will form instead. Tiny tears in your muscles make them grow bigger and stronger as they heal.

    • Lungs. As your muscles call for more oxygen (as much as 15 times more oxygen than when you’re at rest), your breathing rate increases. Once the muscles surrounding your lungs cannot move any faster, you’ve reached what’s called your VO2 max—your maximum capacity of oxygen use. The higher your VO2 max, the fitter you are.
    • Heart. As mentioned, your heart rate increases with physical activity to supply more oxygenated blood to your muscles. The fitter you are, the more efficiently your heart can do this, allowing you to work out longer and harder. As a side effect, this increased efficiency will also reduce your resting heart rate. Your blood pressure will also decrease as a result of new blood vessels forming.
    • Brain. The increased blood flow also benefits your brain, allowing it to almost immediately function better. As a result, you tend to feel more focused after a workout. Furthermore, exercising regularly will promote the growth of new brain cells. In your hippocampus, these new brain cells help boost memory and learning. As stated in the featured article:

“When you work out regularly, your brain gets used to this frequent surge of blood and adapts by turning certain genes on or off. Many of these changes boost brain cell function and protect from diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s or even stroke, and ward off age-related decline.”

A number of neurotransmitters are also triggered, such as endorphins, serotonin, dopamine, glutamate, and GABA. Some of these are well-known for their role in mood control. Exercise, in fact, is one of the most effective prevention and treatment strategies for depression.

    • Joints and bones, as exercise can place as much as five or six times more than your body weight on them. Peak bone mass is achieved in adulthood and then begins a slow decline, but exercise can help you to maintain healthy bone mass as you get older.

Weight-bearing exercise is actually one of the most effective remedies against osteoporosis, as your bones are very porous and soft, and as you get older your bones can easily become less dense and hence, more brittle — especially if you are inactive.

Your Brain Health Is Directly Related to Exercise

A related article published by Lifehacker.com3 focuses exclusively on brain-related changes that occur when you exercise. While I just mentioned that neurotransmitters, chemical messengers in your brain, such as mood-boosting serotonin, are released during a bout of exercise, that doesn’t account for all the benefits your brain reaps.

“If you start exercising, your brain recognizes this as a moment of stress. As your heart pressure increases, the brain thinks you are either fighting the enemy or fleeing from it. To protect yourself and your brain from stress, you release a protein called BDNF (Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor). This BDNF has a protective and also reparative element to your memory neurons and acts as a reset switch. That’s why we often feel so at ease and like things are clear after exercising,” Leo Widrich writes.

Simultaneously, your brain releases endorphins, another stress-related chemical. According to researcher MK McGovern, the endorphins minimize the physical pain and discomfort associated with exercise. They’re also responsible for the feeling of euphoria that many people report when exercising regularly.

Scientists have been linking the benefits of physical exercise to brain health for many years, but recent research4, 5 has made it clear that the two aren’t just simply related; rather, it is THE relationship. The evidence shows that physical exercise helps you build a brain that not only resists shrinkage, but increases cognitive abilities. Exercise encourages your brain to work at optimum capacity by causing your nerve cells to multiply, strengthening their interconnections, and protecting them from damage. There are multiple mechanisms at play here, but some are becoming more well-understood than others.

The rejuvenating role of BDNF is one of them. BDNF activates brain stem cells to convert into new neurons. It also triggers numerous other chemicals that promote neural health. Further, exercise provides protective effects to your brain through:

  • The production of nerve-protecting compounds
  • Improved development and survival of neurons
  • Decreased risk of heart and blood vessel diseases
  • Altering the way damaging proteins reside inside your brain, which appears to slow the development of Alzheimer’s disease

Both Fasting and Exercise Trigger Brain Rejuvenation

Growing evidence indicates that both fasting and exercise trigger genes and growth factors that recycle and rejuvenate your brain and muscle tissues. These growth factors include BDNF, as just mentioned, and muscle regulatory factors, or MRFs.

These growth factors signal brain stem cells and muscle satellite cells to convert into new neurons and new muscle cells respectively. Interestingly enough, BDNF also expresses itself in the neuro-muscular system where it protects neuro-motors from degradation. (The neuromotor is the most critical element in your muscle. Without the neuromotor, your muscle is like an engine without ignition. Neuro-motor degradation is part of the process that explains age-related muscle atrophy.)

So BDNF is actively involved in both your muscles and your brain, and this cross-connection, if you will, appears to be a major part of the explanation for why a physical workout can have such a beneficial impact on your brain tissue. It, quite literally, helps prevent, and even reverse, brain decay as much as it prevents and reverses age-related muscle decay.

This also helps explain why exercise while fasting can help keep your brain, neuro-motors, and muscle fibers biologically young. For more information on how to incorporate intermittent fasting into your exercise routine for maximum benefits, please see this previous article. Sugar suppresses BDNF, which also helps explain why a low-sugar diet in combination with regular exercise is so effective for protecting memory and staving off depression.

This Is Your Brain on Exercise

BDNF and endorphins are two of the factors triggered by exercise that help boost your mood, make you feel good, and sharpen your cognition. As mentioned by Lifehacker, they’re similar to morphine and heroin in their action and addictiveness—but without any of the harmful side effects. Quite the contrary! So, how much do you have to exercise in order to maintain a sunnier disposition and better memory long-term?

According to a 2012 study6 published in the journal Neuroscience, the “secret” to increased productivity and happiness on any given day is a long-term investment in regular exercise. And a little each day appears to go further than a lot once or twice a week.

“Those who had exercised during the preceding month but not on the day of testing generally did better on the memory test than those who had been sedentary, but did not perform nearly as well as those who had worked out that morning,” the authors note.

The reasons for this can perhaps be best perceived visually. Take a look at these images, showing the dramatic increase in brain activity after a 20 minute walk, compared to sitting quietly for the same amount of time.

There is a minor caveat, however. The researchers also discovered that exercise does not affect the brains of all people in exactly the same way. Some people, about 30 percent of people of European Caucasian descent, have a BDNF gene variant that hinders post-exercise BDNF production. The people with this BDNF variant did not improve their memory scores, even when exercising regularly, as significantly as those without this variant. Still, the research clearly suggests that—with individual variations as to the degree—regular exercise will cumulatively enhance your memory and other brain functions.

You Don’t Need to Train Like an Athlete to Reap the Benefits of Exercise

If you are sedentary there is hope for you. In her book, The First 20 Minutes: Surprising Science Reveals How We Can Exercise Better, Train Smarter, Live Longer, New York Times bestselling author Gretchen Reynolds addresses the issue of exercise as a way to improve longevity and happiness as well.7

“The first 20 minutes of moving around, if someone has been really sedentary, provide most of the health benefits. You get prolonged life, reduced disease risk – all of those things come in in the first 20 minutes of being active,” she said in a 2012 interview8.

“Two-thirds of Americans get no exercise at all. If one of those people gets up and moves around for 20 minutes, they are going to get a huge number of health benefits, and everything beyond that 20 minutes is, to some degree, gravy. That doesn’t mean I’m suggesting people should not exercise more if they want to. You can always do more. But the science shows that if you just do anything, even stand in place 20 minutes, you will be healthier.”

Similarly, research9 published in 2008 found that those who exercised on work days experienced significantly improved mood on days that they exercised. Interestingly, while their mood remained fairly constant even on non-exercise work days, their sense of inner calm deteriorated on those days. According to the authors:10

“Critically, workers performed significantly better on exercise days and across all three areas we measured, known as mental-interpersonal, output and time demands.”

Key findings included:

  • 72 percent had improved time management on exercise days compared to non-exercise days
  • 79 percent reported improved mental and interpersonal performance in exercise days
  • 74 percent said they managed their workload better
  • Those who exercised regularly also reported feeling more than 40 percent more “motivated to work” and scored more than 20 percent higher for concentration and finishing work on time

But remember, it is FAR better to exercise regularly. I believe it is also vital to engage in regular movement if you have a sitting job like most of us do, including me. I typically sit in front of a computer for more than 12 hours a day. What I have recently appreciated is that standing up every 10 minutes (with the help of a timer) and engaging in some type of brief exercise, is an enormously powerful habit to minimize the damage of long term sitting.

Aim for a Well-Rounded Fitness Program

Ideally, to truly optimize your health, you’ll want to strive for a varied and well-rounded fitness program that incorporates a wide variety of exercises. As a general rule, as soon as an exercise becomes easy to complete, you need to increase the intensity and/or try another exercise to keep challenging your body.

Additionally, more recent research has really opened my eyes to the importance of non-exercise movement. Truly, the key to health is to remain as active as you can, all day long, but that doesn’t mean you train like an athlete for hours a day. It simply means, whenever you have a chance to move and stretch your body in the course of going about your day—do it!

And the more frequently, the better. Everything from standing up, to reaching for an item on a tall shelf, to weeding in your garden and walking from one room to another, and even doing dishes count. In short, it’s physical movement, period, that promotes health benefits by the interaction your body gets with gravity. To learn more about this important aspect of health, please see this previous article. That said, I recommend incorporating the following types of exercise into your program:

    • Interval (Anaerobic) Training: This is when you alternate short bursts of high-intensity exercise with gentle recovery periods.
    • Strength Training: Rounding out your exercise program with a 1-set strength training routine will ensure that you’re really optimizing the possible health benefits of a regular exercise program. You can also “up” the intensity by slowing it down. For more information about using super slow weight training as a form of high intensity interval exercise, please see my interview with Dr. Doug McGuff.
    • Stand Up Every 10 Minutes. This is not intuitively obvious, but emerging evidence clearly shows that even highly fit people who exceed the expert exercise recommendations are headed for premature death if they sit for long periods of time. My interview with NASA scientist Dr. Joan Vernikos goes into great detail why this is so, and what you can do about it. Personally, I usually set my timer for 10 minutes while sitting, and then stand up and do one legged squats, jump squats or lunges when the timer goes off. The key is that you need to be moving all day long, even in non-exercise activities.
    • Core Exercises: Your body has 29 core muscles located mostly in your back, abdomen and pelvis. This group of muscles provides the foundation for movement throughout your entire body, and strengthening them can help protect and support your back, make your spine and body less prone to injury and help you gain greater balance and stability.

Foundation Training, created by Dr. Eric Goodman, is an integral first step of a larger program he calls “Modern Moveology,” which consists of a catalog of exercises. Postural exercises such as those taught in Foundation Training are critical not just for properly supporting your frame during daily activities, they also retrain your body so you can safely perform high-intensity exercises without risking injury.

Exercise programs like Pilates and yoga are also great for strengthening your core muscles, as are specific exercises you can learn from a personal trainer.

  • Stretching: My favorite type of stretching is active isolated stretches developed by Aaron Mattes. With Active Isolated Stretching, you hold each stretch for only two seconds, which works with your body’s natural physiological makeup to improve circulation and increase the elasticity of muscle joints. This technique also allows your body to repair itself and prepare for daily activity. You can also use devices like the Power Plate to help you stretch.