fitness

Background: Dementia cases may reach 100 million by 2050. Interventions are sought to curb or prevent cognitive decline. Exercise yields cognitive benef?ts, but few older adults exercise. Virtual reality–enhanced exercise or “exergames” may elicit greater participation. Purpose: To test the following hypotheses: (1) stationary cycling with virtual reality tours (“cybercycle”) will enhance executive function and clinical status more than traditional exercise; (2) exercise...

An anti-obesity drug that homes in on and destroys blood vessels that support fat reduced the weight of obese rhesus monkeys by 11 percent in one month. It also trimmed their waistlines by eradicating 27 percent of their abdominal fat. Obesity raises a person's risk for developing breast, ovarian, prostate, colon and other cancers and also hinders treatment for cancer patients. Scientists at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center who developed the drug discuss results of the...

Context Recommended daily physical activity accumulated in short intervals (e.g., <10 minutes) may be more feasible and appealing to the relatively sedentary populace than longer bouts. The purpose of this paper is to present a systematic review of the evidence for the effectiveness of short activity bouts incorporated into organizational routine as part of the regular “conduct of business.” Evidence acquisition PubMed, MEDLINE, and Google Scholar databases were searched in August...

Context: Concern over liability is a barrier to allowing community use of school property for the purpose of engaging in active sport and recreational activities. Recreational user statutes have the potential to limit liability for public schools when use occurs outside of regular school hours, reduce the fear of liability among school administrators, and increase opportunities for access to school facilities for recreation and physical activity by community members. The purpose of this...

Background: Interventions to increase children’s physical activity have had limited success. One reason may be that children and their parents overestimate children’s levels of physical activity, although there are few data on this topic. Purpose: This study aimed to assess awareness of physical activity levels among British school children aged 9–10 years and their parents. Methods: Physical activity was measured by accelerometer in a cross-sectional study of 1892 children...

BACKGROUND: It is a public health recommendation to accumulate at least 150 minutes per week of moderate intensity physical activity. Although pedometers are widely used as a physical activity-monitoring tool, they are unable to measure activity intensity. Translating current physical activity recommendations into a pedometer-based guideline could increase the public health impact of physical activity interventions. METHODS: A community sample of 97 adults (60% women, with a mean age of 32.1...