20 April 2020
MONDAY, April 20, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Physically active U.S. veterans are more likely to fall but less likely to get hurt when they do, compared with inactive older adults who didn't serve in the military, a new study finds.
Researchers analyzed 2006-2015 data from nearly 12,000 veterans and nearly 37,000 others. Compared to non-veterans, vets had 11% more falls that didn't result in injuries, but 28% fewer falls that did, the study revealed.
The risk of falls increased more with age for vets than for others, but physical activity was more protective against non-injury falls for veterans, according to the study published recently in the Journal of Applied Gerontology.
"The inference is that being active puts you at more risk for a fall, but if you are more active/in shape,...
17 April 2020
FRIDAY, April 17, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- If you're a grandparent, shaking a leg with your grandchild might benefit both of you.
That's the upshot of a new study from Israel, where researchers examined how dancing together affected 16 grandmas and granddaughters. The takeaway: It can encourage exercise and deepen ties between the two generations.
Dancing "promoted physical activity even when the body was fatigued and weak," said study author Dr. Einhat Shuper Englehard, a lecturer at Kibbutzim College in Tel Aviv. "This emphasizes the significance of the close and familiar relationship as a means to promote new experiences [which can occasionally seem impossible] for the older person."
The granddaughters -- all dance movement therapists -- teamed with their Bubbes for three...
16 April 2020
THURSDAY, April 16, 2020 (American Heart Association News) -- Still in her desk chair, a window curtain somehow wrapped around her face, Amy Downs spent six hours in the rubble of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.
Even before the truck bomb detonated – ejecting her from a third-floor window and plunging her into the basement, folded into a V-shaped space with her head wedged below the knees – Amy's life was a mess.
At 28, she was an unhappily married college dropout. She'd lost her faith. She weighed 355 pounds.
Surviving was the perfect opportunity for a fresh start. If nothing else, it would've been understandable to leave a job now haunted by reminders of those who weren't as fortunate, like the pregnant woman she'd been talking to at 9:02 a.m. on April 19,...
13 April 2020
MONDAY, April 13, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Even light exercise can counter the damage of stroke in survivors, a new study suggests.
"Stroke is a major cause of disability in older adults," said research leader Neha Gothe, a professor of kinesiology and community health at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
"We know that physical activity can improve how well people survive a stroke and recover after the fact," Gothe said. "But almost no research has looked at how physical activity of different intensities affects physical function among stroke survivors."
For the study, Gothe and her colleagues assessed daily physical activity in 30 stroke survivors for a week, looking at how much they moved and how well they could do routine daily physical tasks such as getting in and...