Healthy Tips from HealthyLife

If you need another reason to shut off the TV and get moving, this information just might do the trick. According to a recent study, low levels of exercise and watching a lot of television are each linked to a higher risk of depression compared to high levels of exercise and little TV viewing.

Researchers from Harvard School of Public Health used data from women taking part in the Nurses’ Health Study who had filled in questionnaires every two years from 1992 to 2000. They selected 49,821 who were did not suffer from depression in 1996.

The questionnaire data included information about physical activity (such as cycling, walking, running, swimming), which allowed the researchers to compile a figure for a total average number of minutes of physical activity per day. The participants had also been asked about their TV viewing habits in 1992, and from those responses the researchers calculated how many hours a week the participants spent watching TV. The investigators were able to determine which women developed clinical depression over the follow up (from 1996 to 2006) from their self reports of whether they had been diagnosed with such by a doctor or whether they were taking anti-depressants.

The authors of the study found that over the follow-up there were 6,505 cases of depression; women who exercised an average of 90 minutes a day or more had a 20% lower risk of depression compared to those who exercised an average of less than 10 minutes a day; and women who watched 21 hours or more of TV a week had a 13% higher risk of developing depression compared to women who watched 1 hour or less.

The researchers admit that one limitation of their study was the possibility that some of the women may already have been depressed when the study began in 1996 and were diagnosed later during the follow up, and this could have been why they exercised less. While previous studies have shown a clear link between higher levels of regular exercise and lower risk of depression, it was less clear before this study whether physical activity and television viewing were linked with clinical depression risk.

Take heart if you are easily embarrassed. According to new research, people who are easily embarrassed are also more trustworthy and generous.

Researchers from the University of California, Berkeley conducted a series of experiments using video testimonials, economic trust games and surveys to gauge the relationship between embarrassment and pro-sociality.

In one experiment, 60 college students were videotaped recounting embarrassing moments such as public flatulence or making incorrect assumptions based on appearances (i.e. mistaking an overweight woman for being pregnant). Research assistants coded each testimonial based on the level of embarrassment the study participants showed. They also participated in an economic game to measure altruism. For example, they were each given 10 raffle tickets and asked to keep shares of the tickets and give the rest to a partner. The researchers found that those who showed greater levels of embarrassment tended to give away more of their raffle tickets, indicating greater generosity. In each experiment, the results showed that embarrassment signals people’s tendency to be pro-social.

Interestingly, these findings aren’t only useful if you’re seeking cooperative and reliable team members and business partners; they also serve as helpful dating advice. Study subjects who were more easily embarrassed reported higher levels of monogamy.

The authors of the study did not delve into the question of whether these results mean that overly confident people aren’t trustworthy, but they say they may look into that in the future.

If you’re looking to drop some of that dreaded belly fat, it’s time to get moving. According to a recent study, aerobic exercise is your best bet when it comes to losing belly fat.

Researchers at Duke University Medical Center conducted a head-to-head comparison of aerobic exercise, resistance training, and a combination of the two. They found aerobic exercise to be the most efficient and most effective way to lose the belly fat that’s most damaging to your health. Abdominal fat, also known as visceral fat and liver fat, is located deep within the abdominal cavity and fills the spaces between internal organs. It has been associated with increased risk for heart disease, diabetes and certain kinds of cancer.

The researchers followed 196 overweight, sedentary adults between the ages of 18 and 70 who were randomized to one of three groups: aerobic training; resistance training or a combination of the two. The aerobic group performed exercises which were equivalent to jogging 12 miles a week at 80% maximum heart rate. The resistance group performed three sets of eight to twelve repetitions three times a week. All the programs were monitored and supervised to ensure maximum effort in participation.

The authors of the study found that aerobic training significantly reduced visceral fat and liver fat, the culprit in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Aerobic exercise also outperformed resistance training in terms of improving fasting insulin resistance and reducing liver enzymes and fasting triglyceride levels, all of which are known factors for heart disease and diabetes. They also found that resistance training did not achieve any significant reductions in visceral fat, liver fat, liver enzyme levels or improvements in insulin resistance. Combining aerobic with resistance training achieved results similar to aerobic training alone.

The study authors say these findings show that resistance training is great for improving strength and increasing lean body mass, but if you are overweight and want to lose belly fat, aerobic exercise is the way to go.

If you want to lose weight without a grumbling stomach or expensive liquid diet, you might want to try lightening up your lunch.

Researchers at Cornell University closely monitored the food intake of 17 volunteers who ate whatever they wanted from a buffet for one week. For two weeks afterwards, half the group selected their lunch by choosing from one of six commercially available, portion-controlled foods, such as Campbell’s Soup at Hand or Chef Boyardee Pasta, but could eat as much as they wanted at other meals or snacks. For the last two weeks of the study, the other half of the volunteers followed the same regimen.

The researchers found that while eating portion-controlled lunches, each study participant consumed 250 fewer calories per day and lost, on average, 1.1 pounds. They did not compensate by eating more calories later in the day, leading the study authors to believe the human body does not possess the mechanisms necessary to notice a small drop in energy intake.

The researchers point out that this study demonstrates one simple, low-cost way to consume fewer calories, adding that following this kind of regimen over a year would result in losing at least 25 pounds.

Here’s yet another reason to kick the habit. According to a new study, women have a 25% higher risk of developing coronary heart disease conferred by smoking in comparison with men.

Researchers at the University of Minnesota and Johns Hopkins University did a meta-analysis of data including about four million people and 67,000 coronary heart disease events from 86 studies. They discovered that in 75 cohorts (total 2-4 million participants) that adjusted for cardiovascular risk factors aside from coronary heart disease, the combined adjusted female-to-male relative risk ratio (RRR) of smoking in comparison with not smoking for coronary disease was 1-25, in other words 25% higher for women. They found the RRR increased by two percent for every year of follow-up, meaning that the longer a woman smokes, the risk of developing coronary heart disease is higher compared to a man that has smoked the same length of time.

The authors of the study suggest cigarette toxins may have a more powerful effect on women and the increased risk may be due to physiological differences between the sexes.

Being nice might get you far in life, but according to a recent study it won’t help you get rich. Researchers at the University of Notre Dames’ Mendoza College of Business have found the opposite to be true: men with disagreeable personalities out earn men with agreeable personalities by about 18%, while argumentative women out earn the nice girls by 5%.

The researchers analyzed data from three large studies of Americans over time. Their final analysis included almost 3,500 people, from workers just out of school to employees in their seventies. The authors of the study controlled for factors such as job complexity and education that could skew the results. They found that across all three studies, people who scored high in disagreeableness earned more than agreeable types. Disagreeable men earned 18.31% more than agreeable men, a difference which translated to an average of $9,772 a year more for the people in the surveys. Women who were disagreeable out earned agreeable women by 5.47%, an average difference of $1,828 per year.

The investigators set out to learn why disagreeableness seems to benefit men in particular by asking 460 undergraduates to read profiles of eight female job promotion candidates or eight male candidates. Half of each group of candidates were painted as agreeable, while the other half were disagreeable. They found that disagreeable men were more likely to be recommended for promotion than disagreeable women. The study participants indicated that they viewed disagreeable men as strong leaders; they did not see this advantage in disagreeable women.