Walking speed: the sixth vital sign Walking speed predicts a host of health outcomes and it’s easily and reliably measured with minimal equipment and cost. Given the ability of walking speed to predict health, two physical therapy researchers called walking speed the sixth vital sign, accompanying the five routinely measured vital signs of blood pressure,…
more
Improve Your Life with Gratitude
An expanded view of gratitude British researchers proposed a new model of gratitude. It extends the more limiting view of gratitude as a response of receiving help from others to a “habitual focusing on and appreciating the positive aspects of life.” Thus, gratitude is more of a trait and a general world view than simply…
more
Ectopic Fat
What is ectopic fat? This term refers to the accumulation of fat molecules (triglycerides) in organs not designed to store fat. More specifically, ectopic fat can occur in your liver, pancreas, heart and skeletal muscles with undesirable consequences. Until recently, adipose tissue, which is comprised of fat cells, was thought be solely a fat storage…
more
Enrich Your Life to Prevent Dementia
Mentally stimulating activities and risk of dementia Higher levels of daily intellectual activities predict lower risk of dementia. But do people with greater intellectual activities also embrace other healthy behaviors, such as increased physical activity, eating a better diet, and not smoking, which could account for the lower risk of dementia? Researchers addressed this question…
more