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Total 16 results found since Jan 2013.

Firefighters warned about heart attack risk
Conclusion This randomised crossover trial aimed to assess whether putting out a fire has an effect on the biological signs of cardiovascular health of firefighters.  By simulating a fire fighting scenario the researchers found that exposure to these conditions increased tendency of the blood to clot, reduced the stretchiness of the blood vessel walls, and caused a slight increase in a marker of heart muscle damage. This trial is thought to be the first assessing this link. Whilst a randomised controlled trial is the best way of investigating this link, there are some limitations to consider. The trial included a con...
Source: NHS News Feed - April 5, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Heart/lungs Source Type: news

Exercise 'most proven method' to prevent return of breast cancer
Conclusion This was a helpful summary of recent research into how lifestyle changes impact on the risk of breast cancer returning, but it does have some limitations. Researching lifestyle factors separately is always difficult as they tend to clump together, making it difficult to pick apart individual factors. For example, people who are more physically active tend to have a healthier diet and are less likely to drink excessive amounts of alcohol or smoke. While the researchers say many studies attempt to make adjustments for these confounding factors, it is difficult to know which studies did this and how successful they...
Source: NHS News Feed - February 22, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Cancer QA articles Lifestyle/exercise Source Type: news

Can a high-tech treatment help combat some of our oldest fears?
Conclusion This experimental study assessed whether it is possible to counter-condition people against their fear memories by using reward without actually having to re-expose the person to the fearful stimulus. The researchers conclude that they have shown this can be done, all with participants remaining unaware of the content and purpose of the procedure. They further suggest the procedure may be an initial step towards novel treatments for fear-related disorders such as phobia and PTSD, via unconscious processing. While these findings show promise, there are some key limitations, the main one being the small number of ...
Source: NHS News Feed - November 22, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Mental health Neurology Source Type: news

Short bursts of intense exercise 'as good' as endurance training
Conclusion The idea that a 10-minute workout could have the same benefits as spending 45 minutes in the gym is tempting. The researchers found it may improve specific markers of health, in one group of young men. However, this is a small study in a specific population, and we don't know whether it would have comparable effects in older people or women. Also, we don't know the long-term effects of this type of training programme on people's health. Studies that look at the effects of an intervention, whether it's exercise, diet or medicine, on health measures such as insulin resistance and oxygen uptake, can only give us a...
Source: NHS News Feed - April 28, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Lifestyle/exercise Heart/lungs Diabetes Source Type: news

GP receptionists 'could help prevent stroke deaths'
Conclusion This valuable and well-designed study assessed a cross-section of general practices from one UK region, looking at how well receptionists are able to recognise the signs of stroke and give appropriate advice – either immediately passing patients on to the GP or telling them to contact emergency services. The study has many strengths. These include the large sample of GP surgeries and calls assessed, and that receptionists weren't aware of the nature of the study and the calls were unannounced. At the end of each individual call receptionists were told the call was part of the study and no further action was n...
Source: NHS News Feed - June 29, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Medical practice Neurology Source Type: news

Could testing grip strength predict heart disease risk?
Conclusion These are interesting results from a range of very different countries, showing that people with low muscle strength may be at higher risk of dying prematurely than other people. Earlier studies in high-income countries had already suggested that this was the case, but this is the first study to show it holds true across countries from high to low incomes. The study also shows that Europeans, and men from high-income countries, on average, have higher grip strength than people from lower-income countries. Interestingly, women from middle-income regions, such as China and Latin America, had slightly higher muscl...
Source: NHS News Feed - May 14, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Heart/lungs Medical practice Source Type: news

Yoga may help protect against heart disease
ConclusionOverall, this review suggests that yoga may be beneficial in reducing risk factors for cardiovascular disease and metabolic syndrome.While these are encouraging findings, the authors also caution that these are based on trials with some limitations, including: There was a wide variation in the type of yoga practised, the frequency and the length of each session across the studies. This means it is difficult to say what the actual effects of each approach are, as the overall effects are just an average across all of these approaches. Some may have more of an effect and some may have less. The review does not rep...
Source: NHS News Feed - December 16, 2014 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Lifestyle/exercise Heart/lungs Obesity Source Type: news

Memory gaps in graduates a 'stroke warning sign'
Conclusion This study showed that highly educated people who notice memory complaints in themselves may be more likely to develop stroke than those who don’t, over an average of 12 years. The study had a number of strengths, such as its population-based prospective design and availability of data on more than 9,000 participants at baseline with a long follow-up. However, there were also a number of limitations that weaken the strength of the conclusions. It was not clear whether the memory complaints were assessed just once at the start of the study or an ongoing basis. Some people may report memory complaints that are o...
Source: NHS News Feed - December 12, 2014 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Neurology Mental health Older people Source Type: news

Ten-point plan to tackle liver disease published
"Doctors call for tougher laws on alcohol abuse to tackle liver disease crisis," The Guardian reports. But this is just one of 10 recommendations for tackling the burden of liver disease published in a special report in The Lancet.The report paints a grim picture of an emerging crisis in liver disease in the UK, saying it is one of the few countries in Europe where liver disease and deaths have actually increased rapidly over the last 30 years. It concludes with 10 recommendations to tackle the burden of liver disease.The media has approached the recommendations from many different angles, with many sources only ...
Source: NHS News Feed - November 27, 2014 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Food/diet Lifestyle/exercise QA articles Source Type: news

Claims magnetic brain stimulation helps memory
ConclusionIn this study, TMS was found to improve performance on the associative memory test by more than 20%, whereas sham stimulation had no significant effect.TMS also increased connectivity between specific cortical (grey-matter) regions of the brain and the hippocampus.This interesting research increases our knowledge of how memory works. However, it was a very small trial with only 16 participants. It is also unclear whether electromagnetic stimulation would be effective for people with memory disorders such as dementia. The media has reported that the researchers are now planning to study the effect of TMS on people...
Source: NHS News Feed - August 29, 2014 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Neurology Source Type: news

Over-60s exercise claim based on just 12 people
Conclusion This small preliminary study indicated high intensity training (two sessions per week for six weeks) improved blood pressure, aerobic fitness and mobility in and out of a chair, compared with a control group of 12 people over the age of 60. While this research is promising, there are a number of limitations to be aware of. We don't know anything about what the control group were asked to do. For example, control groups are often given lifestyle advice as part of an incentive to take part in studies and are otherwise free to continue whatever lifestyle habits they had before, but we don't know if this was the c...
Source: NHS News Feed - July 28, 2014 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Lifestyle/exercise Older people Source Type: news

Over-60s 'benefit from bursts of intense exercise'
Conclusion This small preliminary study indicated high intensity training (two sessions per week for six weeks) improved blood pressure, aerobic fitness and mobility in and out of a chair, compared with a control group of 12 people over the age of 60. While this research is promising, there are a number of limitations to be aware of. We don't know anything about what the control group were asked to do. For example, control groups are often given lifestyle advice as part of an incentive to take part in studies and are otherwise free to continue whatever lifestyle habits they had before, but we don't know if this was the c...
Source: NHS News Feed - July 28, 2014 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Lifestyle/exercise Older people Source Type: news

Can warm-water exercise help high blood pressure?
Conclusion This small randomised trial has found that 12 weeks of three hours a week of exercise in a swimming pool filled with warm water reduced blood pressure in a specific group of people with high blood pressure that had not responded to at least three previous blood pressure medications. A limitation of the study was that the people taking regular exercise sessions in warm water were being compared with a control group who were continuing to take no exercise. It is therefore unclear whether it was the fact that they actually exercised, rather than the type of exercise, was the key factor. It is possible that a simi...
Source: NHS News Feed - April 3, 2014 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Heart/lungs Older people Source Type: news

Walking ‘could save 37,000 lives a year’ report claims
The benefits of walking have been reported across the UK media. The BBC reports that “walking more 'would save thousands' of lives in the UK”. These stories have been prompted by the "Walking Works” report (PDF, 3.4MB). It provides an overview of current evidence on physical inactivity, and makes the case for encouraging more people to take up walking as a form of physical activity. It lays out that a large proportion of the population is not meeting physical activity guidelines and that if more people did so, this could potentially save 37,000 lives a year in England. It also discusses the specific benefits o...
Source: NHS News Feed - October 7, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Cancer Lifestyle/exercise QA articles Source Type: news

Could exercise be as effective as medication?
Conclusion The researchers found that there are very few trials that directly compare exercise with drug therapy for any condition. They were only able to find enough trials to be able to analyse results for four major conditions. They found that exercise reduced death rates for people after a stroke (although this analysis has limitations and should be interpreted cautiously), and that drug therapy with diuretics improved death rates for people with heart failure. They did not find any difference between exercise and drug therapy for death rates after a heart attack or in people with pre-diabetes. There were several limit...
Source: NHS News Feed - October 2, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Lifestyle/exercise Heart/lungs Medication Source Type: news