Good news for gamers and parents—playing certain video games could actually count as exercise. New research shows that playing Wii Sports, if used correctly, could be the equivalent of a mild workout.

Sixteen volunteers, ages 20 to 24, took a fitness test to determine a baseline rating of perceived exertion (RPE).  Participants were instructed on proper usage of the game and played various Wii games while researchers monitored oxygen intake, heart rate and RPE.

The study, led by John Porcari, Ph. D., and Alexa Carroll, M.S., focused on six different activities—Free Run, Island Run, Free and Advanced Steps, Super Hula Hoop, and Rhythm Boxing.

Volunteers participated in each of the six activities randomly for 6 minutes. The Free and Island Run exercises required more energy, but neither used enough to meet the American College of Sports Medicine’s standard to affect cardio endurance.  The other activities fell below these health guidelines as well.

All of the activities did, however, burn calories. In 30 minutes, each activity burned the following number of calories:

• Free Step, 99 calories
  
• Advanced Step, 108 calories
• Super Hula Hoop, 111 calories
• Boxing, 114 calories
• Free Run, 165 calories
• Island Run, 165 calories

Although these exertion levels are significantly lower than doing similar exercise without the game, Wii Fit still used twice the calories of other video games. This is enough exertion to be considered a very mild workout.

“I guess anything is better than nothing,” Porcari says, “ but we were a little bit underwhelmed by the intensity of some of the exercises.”

An earlier study showed that certain Wii Sports activities burned more calories.

“You’re better off doing Wii Sports than Wii Fit,” Porcari explains. “In Wii Sports there’s more jumping around, and you’re not constrained by having to stand on the balance pad. I think there’s much more freedom of movement and you get a better workout.”

Thirty minutes each of Wii Sports activities burned the following number of calories:

• Wii Baseball, 84 calories
• Wii Golf, 93 calories
• Bowling, 117 calories
• Tennis, 159 calories
• Boxing, 306 calories

These findings could cut pounds for gamers in the long run, Carroll says, but it’s best not to rely on Wii alone. “Since using the Wii Fit alone may not produce results that meet recommended physical activity guidelines it is important that individuals participate in additional exercises to effectively reach these guidelines,” she says.

Read more about the Wii Fit and Wii Sports studies.

There may be a new ray of hope for glaucoma patients striving to preserve their vision. According to a recent study that appears in August’s online issue of BMC Ophthalmology, just ten minutes daily of aerobic exercise may help prevent further vision loss.

Researchers from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and the Department of Anesthesiology at the "G.Papanikolaou" Regional Hospital in Thessaloniki, Greece, sought to explore the effects of exercise on medicated patients with primary open angle glaucoma (POAG).

Glaucoma is a disease that causes damage to the optic nerve, often resulting in severe vision loss or blindness. It is an irreversible condition that affects roughly 4 million people in the United States, about half of whom are unaware that they have it. Women, persons with diabetes or stroke, and African American men over 40 are at a greater risk.

Although glaucoma is typically seen in the elderly (persons over 60), everyone is at risk. Glaucoma may develop with or without symptoms, and as many as 10 percent of people receiving proper treatment will still experience vision loss. High intraocular pressure (IOP) is one of its many risk factors.

“Since exercise increases systemic fibrinolytic activity (such as dissolving blood clots), one can speculate that exercise decreases intraocular pressure by facilitating (uveoscleral) outflow,” authors of the study wrote.”

Based on this information, researchers gathered data from 145 individuals—100 healthy and 45 with POAG. Prior to testing researchers checked IMP levels using Goldmann’s applanation tonometry, a method of measuring the amount of pressure needed to flatten the cornea.

IMP was measured again hours after receiving medicated eye drops. Participants were then asked to engage in “moderate to sub-maximal” aerobic exercise (on a bicycle) for 10 minutes, after which IOP data was again measured. All participants experienced lower IOP levels, even in the participants who received no medication.

“Regardless of the antiglaucoma medication instilled, they still benefited from the aerobic exercise since they all had a post-exercise reduction of IOP,” the authors wrote in the study. “It is obvious that these patients should be encouraged to perform aerobic exercise.”

Have more questions? Visit Healia's Glaucoma Community.

Bill Rodgers, the former top-ranked marathon runner in the world, is running next Monday’s 113th Boston Marathon to promote prostate cancer awareness at the age of 61. A four-time winner of the Boston Marathon, Rodgers will be helping Athletes for a Cure, a program of the Prostate Cancer Foundation, to raise funds for and build awareness of prostate cancer.

Rodgers was diagnosed with prostate cancer last year. “There was no indication of any problem before I was diagnosed,” said Rodgers in a press release. “I’ve always tried to watch my health. Being so physically active, I was completely shocked to learn I had prostate cancer. I was also surprised to find out one out of six American men will also be in this same situation sometime in their lives. Prostate cancer is just that prevalent.”

Risk factors for prostate cancer include being 50 years of age or older; being of African heritage; having a brother, son, or father who had prostate cancer; and eating a high fat diet or drinking alcohol.

The American Cancer Society does not recommend routine prostate cancer screening for all men but recommends that health care professionals “offer testing with the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test and digital rectal exam (DRE) yearly, beginning at age 50, to men who are at average risk of prostate cancer and have at least a 10-year life expectancy.” They also recommend that screening be considered at 40 or 45 if the person has high risk factors such as being of African American heritage and having a family history of prostate cancer at an early age.

The Boston Marathon is the world's oldest annual marathon and one of the most prestigious races. In 2008 nearly 22,000 runners completed the course.

For more information, see Healia’s resources about prostate cancer prevention and screening, and cancer organizations and healthcare providers. Or get online support from our online community for prostate cancer.


_{Photo: Paul Keleher, Flickr, Creative Commons}

Swiss researchers reported Monday that any of several types of exercise can benefit people who have recently survived a heart attack. They also found that those benefits disappear when exercise is discontinued.

The researchers assigned more than 200 people who had previously suffered a heart attack to one of four exercise groups: aerobic training, resistance workouts, a combination of the two, or no exercise at all. They found that after four weeks, all three groups who were assigned to some type of exercise showed similar levels of improvement in blood vessel function, while those who did not participate in regular exercise showed no such improvement.

Some of the participants were then asked to stop their exercise regimens. One month later, all the improvements related to exercise were gone: the blood vessels of those who stopped working out had returned to their pre-exercise state.

It is unknown if the improvements in blood vessel function associated with exercise actually translate to better health and longer lives, but the researchers think it is likely. Heart disease is the world’s leading cause of death, while poor blood vessel health is the major cause of heart disease. Any improvement in vessel health is likely to reduce the risk of future heart problems.

To find out more about heart diseases, read the Healia Health Guide to Heart Disease.

^{_{Photo: Mr. T. in DC, Flickr, Creative Commons}}

Walk Score ranks the 40 largest cities in America and the neighborhoods within those cities based on their "walkability." The purpose is to help people find walkable places where it is easy to live a car-free (or car-lite) lifestyle. However, the cities near the bottom of the list are considered not walking-friendly or "car-dependent" meaning there are few destinations that are within walking distance so most trips will require a car or public transportation.

Walk Score calculates the walkability of an address by locating nearby stores, restaurants, schools, parks, etc. and awarding points based on the distance to the closest amenity in each category. It’s not a perfect rating scale, as it does not include weather, public transit, pedestrian-friendly design, topography, beauty of the surroundings, or man-made and natural impediments to walking; it is purely based on the proximity of amenities. Cities are defined as in the 2000 U.S. Census and neighborhood boundaries come from Zillow.com.

The list below includes the cities with the lowest overall walkability scores out of the 40 largest cities in the nation. The walkability score appears in parentheses after each city.

The top 10 least walking-friendly cities in America are:

1. Jacksonville (36)
2. Nashville (39)
3. Charlotte (39)
4. Indianapolis (42)
5. Oklahoma City (43)
6. Memphis (43)
7. Kansas City (44)
8. Fort Worth (45)
9. San Antonio (45)
10. El Paso (45)

For more information on how regular walking can improve your health, join the Healia Health Community for Exercise and Fitness. 

Related blog post: The Top 10 Most Walking-Friendly Cities in America

_{Source: Walk Score. http://www.walkscore.com/rankings/}

Photo: jmd41280, Flickr, Creative Commons

Walking is an enjoyable, cost saving, and environmentally friendly activity that almost anyone can participate in. Walk Score ranks the 40 largest cities in America and the neighborhoods within those cities based on their "walkability." The purpose is to help people find walkable places where it is easy to live a car-free (or car-lite) lifestyle.

Walk Score calculates the walkability of an address by locating nearby stores, restaurants, schools, parks, etc. and awarding points based on the distance to the closest amenity in each category. According to studies, the number of nearby amenities is the leading predictor of whether people walk. If the closest amenity in a given category is within ¼ mile, it gets the maximum points. The number of points awarded declines as the distance to the nearest amenity grows and if it is beyond 1 mile, no points are awarded. Each category is weighted equally and the points are summed and normalized to yield a score from 0–100. Scores above 90 are considered "Walker’s Paradise" meaning you can likely get by without needing to own a car. It’s not a perfect rating scale, as it does not include public transit, pedestrian-friendly design, topography, beauty of the surroundings, or man-made and natural impediments to walking; it is purely based on the proximity of amenities. Cities are defined as in the 2000 U.S. Census and neighborhood boundaries come from Zillow.com.

The list below includes the cities with the highest overall walkability scores followed by the three most walking friendly neighborhoods within each city. The walkalitily score appears in parentheses after each city and each individual neighborhood.

The top 10 most walking-friendly cities in America are:

1. San Francisco (score = 86)
   Neighborhoods: Chinatown (99), Financial District (99), Downtown (98)
   
   
2. New York (83)
   Neighborhoods: Tribeca (100) Little Italy (100), Soho (100)
   
   
3. Boston (79)
   Neighborhoods: Back Bay-Beacon Hill (97), South End (97), Fenway-Kenmore (96)
   
   
4. Chicago (76)
   Neighborhoods: Loop (98), Near North Side (97), Lincoln Park (94)
   
   
5. Philadelphia (74)
   Neighborhoods: City Center East (98), City Center West (98), Riverfront (92)
   
   
6. Seattle (72)
   Neighborhoods: Pioneer Square (99), Downtown (97), First Hill (96)
   
   
7. Washington D.C. (70)
   Neighborhoods: Dupont Circle (99), Logan Circle (98), Downtown (97)
   
   
8. Long Beach (69)
   Neighborhoods: Downtown (87), Belmont Shore (83), Belmont Heights (82)
   
   
9. Los Angeles (67)
   Neighborhoods: Mid City West (92), Downtown (90), Hollywood (89)
   
   
10. Portland (66)
    Neighborhoods: Pearl District (99), Old Town-Chinatown (98), Downtown (96)

For more information on how regular walking can improve your health, join the Healia Health Community for Exercise and Fitness.

_{Source: Walk Score. http://www.walkscore.com/rankings/} 

_{Photo: Benjamin Rossen, Flickr, Creative Commons}

Many common winter holiday activities can help you burn off the extra calories you consume by eating big meals and holiday treats. Below is a list of winter holiday activities and the number of calories you will burn if you engage in them for one hour. The number of calories burned is based on a person weighing 150 lbs. If you weigh more, you will burn more calories, and if you weigh less you will burn fewer calories.

 

Cross-country skiing	612 calories
Snowshoeing	544 calories
Ice skating	476 calories
Sledding	476 calories
Shoveling snow	408 calories
Splitting firewood	408 calories
Dancing	306 calories
Decking the halls and tree	247 calories
Building a snowman	238 calories
Baking cookies	170 calories
Holiday shopping	157 calories
Caroling	129 calories
Writing holiday cards	123 calories

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For more information about physical activity, join the Healia Health Community on Exercise and Fitness.

_{Source: Indiana State Department of Health www.in.gov/isdh/}

_{Photo: Derek Faulkner, Flickr, Creative Commons}

In the January issue of Oprah Winfrey’s magazine O, the recently named most powerful woman in entertainment announces that she now weighs 200 pounds. She says she is embarrassed and mad at herself, saying “I can’t believe that after all these years, all the things I know how to do, I'm still talking about my weight. I look at my thinner self and think, `How did I let this happen again?'"

While Oprah may be alone at the top of the list of powerful woman entertainers, she is not alone in her struggle to control her weight. Many women (and men) have difficulty losing weight and even more trouble keeping that weight off for the long term. One of the main reasons for this is the way that we go about weight loss: the diet.

Consider Oprah’s first foray in the arena of public weight loss in 1988. That year, she famously wheeled a wagon loaded with fat onto the set of her talk show to represent a 67-pound weight loss that allowed her to fit into a pair of size 10 Calvin Klein jeans. She had lost the pounds with a liquid protein diet, basically starving herself for four months. "Two hours after that show, I started eating to celebrate,” Oprah recalls. “Of course, within two days those jeans no longer fit!"

This story may cause you to nod your head in agreement, as many people know exactly what Oprah is talking about. We tend to treat weight loss as a goal to be celebrated, but spend little or no energy trying to maintain that weight loss. The word “diet” has even come to mean a radical change in the way we eat, when the term originally referred simply to what we eat.

In order to maintain a healthy weight, we should focus more on that second meaning of diet. Don’t think of a diet as a temporary restriction to lose weight. Instead, successful weight management is really about changing your diet (what you eat) for the long term. Don’t set a goal, reach it, then return to your old ways. Instead, slowly phase in changes to your diet that can last a lifetime, and celebrate milestones reached along the way by giving yourself non-food rewards.

For more information about how to successfully manage your weight, including tips on maintaining a healthy diet for the long term, see the Healia Health Guide on Weight Management. Weight management can be a difficult journey, not unlike that of an alcoholic maintaining his or her sobriety. Having a support community can help: join the Healia Health Communitiy for Weight Management or the Healia Health Community for Diet and Nutrition to share your experiences and benefit from the wisdom of others.

 

_{Photo: whoohoo120, Flickr, Creative Commons}

This year, several states in the South rank as the least healthy states in the United States. Every year, America’s Health Rankings, a collaborative partnership between United Health Foundation, the American Public Health Association, and Partnership for Prevention, provides an annual analysis of national health on a state-by-state basis, ranking them from the most to the least healthy. Researchers analyzed 22 different health measures, which are a combination of health determinants and health outcomes, to compile the rankings. Health determinants are factors that can affect the future health of a population. Health outcomes measure what has already occurred, either through death or missed days due to illness.

This year’s top 10 least healthy states are:

1. Louisiana
   Louisiana tops this year’s list of least healthy states, the same spot it occupied in the first rankings done in 1990. While the state does not rate worst on any single measure, it has the second highest number of cancer deaths and premature deaths as well as the second highest level of infant mortality. In addition, it makes the top 5 in obesity rate, violent crime, child poverty, rate of people uninsured, infectious diseases, and preventable hospitalizations. Bright spots are low levels of binge drinking and low numbers or poor mental health days.


2. Mississippi
   Louisiana’s neighbor Mississippi is runner up for least healthy state, as it was 19 years ago, although that is one spot better than last year when it topped the list. Having these two states top the list is not surprising because the Mississippi River delta is one of the poorest regions in America. Mississippi is worst in obesity rate, child poverty, and rate of cardiovascular –related deaths, second worst in number of poor mental days, infant mortality, and premature deaths. On the good side, the state is actually fourth best for low binge drinking rates and ranks in the top 15 for low levels of violent crime.


3. South Carolina
   Up six spots from last year, South Carolina is another Southern state with serious health issues. The state ranks worst in violent crime rate and second worst in high school graduation rate, and it is in the top ten for obesity rates, occupational fatalities, child poverty, infant mortality, and premature deaths. However, public health funding and immunization coverage are above average along with a low rate of binge drinking.


4. Tennessee
   Up one spot from last year, Tennessee is third worst on the list for violent crime and infant mortality, fourth worst in obesity and cancer deaths, and fifth worst for smoking, preventable hospitalizations, and cardiovascular deaths. On the plus side, Tennessee is tied for the lowest rate of binge drinking.


5. Texas
   Nine spots worse than last year, Texas has the second highest rate of child poverty in the nation and ranks worst in health insurance coverage. Bright spots include above average rankings in smoking, binge drinking, infant mortality rate, and cancer deaths.


6. Florida
   Florida ranks second worst for geographic disparity (differences in mortality rates among counties), third worst in infectious disease and health insurance coverage rates, and has the fifth highest rate of violent crime. Some positives include top ten rankings in obesity rates, air pollution, and immunization coverage.


7. Oklahoma
   Improving four spots from last year (but still 12 spots worse than the initial survey in 1990), Oklahoma has the second lowest number of primary care physicians per capita, the second highest rate of cardiovascular-related deaths, and the third highest smoking rate. The State is average in several areas including high school graduation rate, infectious disease rates, and air pollution. It ranks in the top 15 for lowest binge drinking rate and highest per capita public health funding.


8. Arkansas
   A success story on the list, Arkansas improved five spots this year and ranks 2 spots above its 1990 placement. Fifth worst in immunization coverage, Arkansas also has the sixth highest rate of obesity, occupational fatalities, poor physical health days, and premature deaths. The state is average in public health funding and geographic disparity and has the seventh lowest binge drinking rate of any state.


9. Nevada
   The lone Western state on the list is also the only state outside of the southern region to make the list. Nevada has the worst high school graduation rate in the nation, the only state with a rate below 60%, and also the worst immunization coverage. Nevada has the third most violent crime and the third lowest public health funding. On the other hand, it ranks in the top 15 for low air pollution, obesity rates, and preventable hospitalizations.


10. Georgia
    The Peach State is the worst for air pollution and also has the third lowest high school graduation rate in the nation and the fourth highest rate of infectious disease. The State dose rank above average in low smoking rates, high immunization coverage, and public health funding and boasts the nation’s ninth lowest rate of binge drinking.

Related blog post: The Top 10 Healthiest States in America

_{Source: America’s Health Rankings, 2008. http://www.americashealthrankings.org/2008}

_{Photo: colros, Flickr, Creative Commons}

Adopting four healthy habits (regular exercise, healthy eating, not smoking, and not drinking) can help you live longer—14 years longer—according to a report published this week in the Public Library of Science Medicine journal.

This research is an important piece of work which emphasizes how modifying just a few risk factors can add years to your life - Dr. Tim Armstrong, a physical activity expert at the World Health Organization.

The 11-year study examined 20,200 healthy men and women aged 45 to 79. Between the years 1993 and 1997, study participants completed a health questionnaire with a clinic nurse. Participants scored one point for not smoking, one point for regular physical activity, one point for eating five servings of fruits and vegetables a day, and one point for moderate alcohol intake.

The researchers tracked deaths from all causes through the year 2006, including cardiovascular disease, cancer, and respiratory diseases. Nearly 2,000 participants died during the study. Researchers concluded that participants who scored four points were four times less likely to die than those who scored zero.

healthy habits live longer healthy living