(Bloomberg Opinion) -- In late March, Boris Johnson and Matt Hancock, Britains portly prime minister and its slender health secretary, both contracted Covid-19. Hancock had a mild case and was back to work a week later. Johnson was lucky to come out alive after a spell in intensive care.

Ever since then he has been on a mission. Johnson believes that being overweight was a factor in his contracting a more severe form of the disease, and a growing body of evidence backs that up. Ina study of 17,000 Covid-positive hospital patients, those with a body mass index of more than 30 (considered obese) had a 33% greater risk of dying than non-obese patients. A separate study of people in U.K. intensive care units for the condition found that 73% were either overweight, obese or morbidly obese.

The British prime minister once burnished his libertarian credentials by decrying sin taxes on producers of unhealthy snacks and sugary drinks, but the coronavirus has changed him. The food industry should prepare itself for the consequences.

The same connection between weight and Covid-19 has been borne out in other countries. In France, a study of people admitted to intensive care units at Lyon University Hospital, published in the Lancet, found 25% of severe cases were obese. Researchers at New York Universityhad similar findings.

Scientists are still trying to understand the connection better, but obesity seems to be a risk on various levels. Being significantly overweight puts greater strain on the heart and lungs, which makes fighting the virus more difficult. The infection enters the body through the enzyme ACE2, higher levels of which are found in adipose, or fatty, tissue (which obese people have more of).

The immune response in very overweight patients also seems to be compromised, due to the way a particular type of immune cell, called macrophages, invade the fat tissue and can sendthe bodys immune system into self-destructive overdrive. Hospital care may also be complicated by a persons size and any underlying, but as yet undiscovered, health issues.

The Covid-obesity link was observed in China too, but its a bigger worry in Britain and the U.S., where many people are overweight. Nearly 40% of American adults under 60 have a body mass index over 30. Nearly two-thirds of U.K. adultsare overweight or obese, according to the National Health Service.Obesity is prevalent in 29% of adults and one in five children aged between 10 and 11.

Critically, many of the recent Covid-19 flare-ups are in more deprived areas, and obesity rates are higher there. In Britain, the most obese country in Europe (apart from Malta), obesity is twice as high in the poorest areas as the richest ones. In the U.S., obesity has been linked to levels of income and education, and to ethnicity.

The question is what to do about that. Given the complexity of environmental, biological and psychological factors, weight isnt an easy policy area. The vast majority of those who manage to lose a lot of weight find they gain back most of it. Researchers have made progress in understanding why thats so, and the way calorie-reduction regimens trigger countervailing increases in appetite that ultimately defeat even the most determined dieters.

Cultural stereotypes and stigmas havent quite caught up with the research. If you scroll down the comments of any social media feed on the obesity debate youll find typical rejoinders with some combination of the words willpower, diet, exercise or portion control. There are accusatory glances at parents who dont monitor the weight of their children.

Johnson has certainly played with those stereotypes. When he was its editor, the conservative Spectator magazine ran an article warning people not to hire a fatty for a nanny, suggesting they were likely to be unclean, lazy and derelict in their childcare duties. Even for a magazine that prides itself on being contrarian, the piece was unscientific and grotesque.

In a 2004 newspaper column, Johnson said it was peoples own fat fault if they were obese, a view he described last week as embarrassing.In his Toryleadership campaign, he vowed to end the continuing creep of the nanny state and roll back sin taxes.Now, however, he is weighing in on the side of the interventionists, distancing himself from his oldviews. The government hasnt specified how it will act, but it is considering a range of more aggressive measures.

Story continues

One is likely to be expanding the U.K.s sugar tax. While Britain has a limited levy on soft drinks, which seems to be having an impact, there are too many exemptions.

Even an expanded sugar tax is only part of the solution, as Sally Davies, the countrys former chief medical officer, has argued. Education is needed for younger children, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds who are more likely to eat packaged and processed foods and Brits also need protection from the fire hose of junk-food advertising.So far, thats been a very uneven fight. A report from the Obesity Health Alliance a few years ago noted that the government had spent 5.2 million pounds a year on its healthy-eating campaign, while confectioners and purveyors of junk food spent 143 million pounds on ads.

New interventions would no doubt be greeted with angry howls from the food industry. But some of the old arguments against taking action especially that sin taxes dont workor affectthe poor disproportionately no longer hold up. Johnsons backing for action adds political weight, and muscle, to the other side.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Therese Raphael is a columnist for Bloomberg Opinion. She was editorial page editor of the Wall Street Journal Europe.

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion

Subscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.

2020 Bloomberg L.P.

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Boris Johnson Has a Personal Stake in Fighting Obesity - Yahoo Finance

Lots of people shun carbs in a bid to lose weight. The idea that carbohydrates are calorific is widespread and has left people avoiding the whole food group. But should we really be switching to brown bread instead?Express.co.ukreveals how bread affects weight loss.

Carbohydrates are a wide category, including bread, pasta, beans and potatoes.

They are one of three macronutrients found in food, the others are fat and protein.

Obviously you cant eat bread all day every day, but many have taken to cutting the foodstuff out of their diet entirely.

So what is the difference between white and brown bread?Express.co.uktakes a look.

READ MORE- Veganism benefits: Should I go vegan? Will I lose weight?

No, carbohydrates will not make you put on weight if you eat them in the right quantities.

Hardly any foods contain only one nutrient and most are a combination of carbohydrates, fats and proteins in varying amounts.

They are important to your health because they give you energy and reduce risk of some diseases.

Carbs are not going to make you gain weight, unless you add butter and creamy sauces to them.

Carbohydrates actually contain fewer calories gram for gram than fat, making them a useful part of maintaining a healthy weight.

There are three different types of carbohydrates in food: sugar, starch and fibre.

The type of sugars that we tend to eat too much of is called free sugars.

They are often added to food or drinks such as biscuits, chocolate, and breakfast cereals.

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You are better off sticking to naturally occurring sugars, such as those found in honey, syrups, and smoothies.

Starch is found in foods that come from plants, such as bread, rice, potatoes and pasta.

Starch is good for you because it provides a slow and steady release of energy to keep you going all day.

Fibre is another important carbohydrate, and good sources include fruit and vegetables, wholegrain bread, and wholewheat pasta.

Significantly reducing carbohydrates from your diet could potentially lead to health problems.

Carbohydrates are the bodys main source of energy, and if you dont eat them your body will use protein and fat for energy instead.

It may be hard to get enough fibre without carbs, and fibre is crucial for digestion.

However, you should opt for healthier sources of carbohydrates such as wholegrain, potatoes, vegetables, fruit and legumes.

Brown bread is a healthier choice than white bread, according to a number of studies.

The NHS website says that wholegrain, wholemeal and brown breads give us energy.

They also contain B vitamins, vitamin E, fibre, and a range of minerals.

White bread gives you some of this too, but not as much.

Brown bread, wholegrain and wholemeal are also lower in fat.

The rest is here:
Weight loss: Is brown bread good for weight loss? - Express

If years ago what everyone wanted to lose weight was talking about going to the gym and getting pounded doing sports, now many nutritionists and sports experts have turned the tables.New trends in the world of nutrition warn that leading a healthy life is no longer (or at least not only) a matter of doing sports.Over the years and with an increasingly powerful food industry and the increase in sedentary lifestyle and associated diseases such as obesity, consumption trends have changed and there are now many people who, as nutritionists themselves report, They cannot lose weight for much sport that they do. So it is necessary to put aside junk food and start eating real food.

In this link we told you yesterday an example of a woman who had succeeded. The photo speaks for itself. The results are surprising. Once you change your diet then you do have to start exercising. And the first step is to start the house little by little and by the foundations. That is: do not face the first day a half marathon.Just do the fashionable exercise that everyone talks about and that more and more people practice.It is simple: just walk. Doing about 15,000 steps each day will suffice.

More and more people are joining this trend. And it is a way of exercising without you noticing it excessively. In fact, several viral coach challenges are circulating around the network that try to improve the lives of their followers.What does it consist on? In that you get a smart phone or an activity bracelet and count the steps you take. The goal is for you to exceed 15,000 each day. If you succeed, put a mark on the calendar and start introducing small actions that can lead you to move more and (therefore) burn more calories.

Keep in mind that moving (in this link you can read how beneficial it is, for example, doing it after each meal or each dinner), will make your body activate and burn more calories. If you do more than 15,000 steps a day (or even reach 20.00)you can subtract 4,000 calories.A challenge at the height of a few for which up to groups (both women and men) that go out throughout Spain periodically to walk together have already been formed.

But this is not the only action you can do. Quite the contrary. Moving and walking has to be a complement.In fact, scholars assure that if you add to this, for example, a renunciation of alcohol or ultraprocessed, the changes in your body you will begin to notice before. And that is the last of the keys that nutritionists transmit: losing weight is a matter of time. You have to be patient because the results are not achieved in a moment or a minute. Every effort has its rewards.

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May 16, 2020

May 16, 2020

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Weight loss tricks: The exercise that sweeps the nets and what you should do to lose weight and subtract calories without starving - Explica

Posted on May 15, 2020

Words by Donna Torres, General Manager of SMB Sales & Operations UK & EMEA, Xero

In the current climate, many of us have found ourselves in different working environments with the majority of people working from home. With our home and work spaces becoming the same place, its more important than ever to ensure you take steps to create some separation and avoid burnout a common issue faced by small business owners.

Here are six ways to help avoid burnout:

Often a business is the result of a life-long passion, so its easy for that business to become a fundamental part of your everyday routine. This makes it difficult to separate work life from home especially when both now exist in the same location.

Try to keep to normal working hours, and avoid working late into the evening where possible. Its vital to ensure a distinction between your working day and your time to relax, otherwise youre more susceptible to burnout. Working after hours can actually make you less productive too, as youre less able to switch off when it counts. Small things like clearing your work space away at the end of the day will make a big difference.

Prioritising your wellbeing should be just as much a part of your daily routine as a to-do list is. Physical and emotional burnout can sometimes be tracked back to elements of your lifestyle, such as diet, exercise and sleep.

Rest is crucial. It might be tempting to stay up late working on something but without the right sleep, your week is not going to be as productive as it could be. Exercise is also important, even if its just once or twice a week or going for some short walks in the day to get some space away from your screen. There are a number of great workplace apps such as Unmind who can help business owners and their employees with their wellbeing.

Time management in a small firm can be difficult, especially when you are first starting out. Xero research revealed that the main triggers for entrepreneurs stress are staff management (42%), admin (35%), feeling personally responsible for the success of the company (31%) and filing taxes (19%).

When youre overwhelmed, everything on your to do list might seem like it needs to be done ASAP, but in reality most of the time tasks can be split into urgent and important. Prioritising tasks is key to focus the mind. Apps like Wunderlist and Todoist can help you to prioritise, set reminders and share your work load with colleagues whilst working remotely too.

Always be realistic with how much you can accomplish in one day. If you commit to doing too much in an unrealistic time frame, it is likely that you will feel more burned out.

Entrepreneurs are always worrying about cash flow and profit and loss sheets especially at the moment. If you have a comprehensive bookkeeping system set up, you will feel more in control of your finances.

Cloud accounting software can be used from any device all you need is an internet connection. It gives you an up-to-date snapshot of how your business is doing, giving you the insights you need to make the right decisions for your company. The time consuming accounting tasks are automated, and anyone from your team who needs to can access information and collaborate on activity.

Although were not able to go abroad at the moment, that doesnt mean you should go without a holiday. Book a day or two of annual leave if possible to switch off.

And if thats not possible, try to schedule some down time every day, the same way you would a meeting. Whether its getting out on your daily walk or run, or listening to your favourite podcast, ensure that youre getting away from your desk and taking your mind off work.

Running a small business can be all consuming. Implementing a routine which includes downtime is going to benefit both you and your business in the long-run. A brain thats allowed to switch off works more efficiently when it needs to be switched on.

Link:
Five ways to avoid burnout when your home and work environments become one - HR News

If someone has the motivation to feel ready for the day, that can change drastically if they have cold pizza and a can of soda for breakfast. If you start your day on an unhealthy note, chances are, it negatively affects the start of your morning.

On the other hand, starting off a bit healthier surely benefits the rest of the day. As a high school student who is busy with diving and academics, its not always easy to avoid the temptation of cheap satisfaction; but, Ive made a concerted effort to try.

In the morning, when my alarm blares, Id much rather hit the snooze button admittedly, sometimes I do but, I personally feel much better and refreshed when I start my morning by eating a healthy breakfast, rather than scrolling through my social media while gorging on chips.

I notice that whenever I eat either a bad breakfast or none at all, my concentration levels during school are off. I tend to fall asleep in class (dont tell my mom) or my body begins to feel weak.

My personal feelings were confirmed by Healthline, who reported children with a poor diet run the risk of growth and developmental problems and poor academic performance, and bad eating habits can persist for the rest of their lives.

This fact alone should motivate us to stop our bad eating habits even though the temptations are irresistible.

Exercising also helps my body stay in great shape. Being a competitive platform and springboard diver I attend practice every day. I do dry-land and pool training as well as conditioning and basics. My workout not only helps me stay in shape but also aids in relieving most of my stresses and anxieties.

After my practice is complete, I feel motivated to eat healthier so that I could focus on my studying, which most people probably feel. Whenever I have off days and decide not to exercise, I tend to get upset easier and my body gets heavy and bloated.

By exercising and eating nutritious meals rather than laying in bed while eating junk, my mentality and mood are impacted influencing my daily routines.

Moving away from personal anecdotes, a composed diet, as well as physical movement, is critical as our organs and tissues need proper nutrition in order to effectively function. Without nutrition and exercise, our bodies have a higher risk of getting diseases, infections or even death.

These unwise eating habits and lack of exercise also lead to diabetes and obesity. At least 2.8 million people die each year as a result of being obese or overweight, according to the World Health Organization.

According to BBC News, an 18-year-old boy tragically died from sudden adult death syndrome in 2015. He was overweight and had an addiction to junk food. Not only did he consume himself with his bad eating habits, but he also spent more than 12 hours a day playing video games.

Doctors told his mother that obesity contributed to his death, and his devastated parents spoke out with hope to help other young people avoid the same issue, according to BBC.

Due to nutrition and obesity-related diseases including heart disease and diabetes, unhealthy diets contribute to approximately 678,000 deaths in the U.S. each year, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

Although its very challenging, it is important to face your own temptations and challenge yourself to stock up on fruits and veggies and get the treadmill going.

Ultimately, just by changing our diets and lifestyle, our lives could be saved and lifted up from our depressed and lazy bodies. This conscious decision can also impact how we act during the day and how well we concentrate during school or work.

I love to sit around eating ice cream while watching Netflix, but that cannot be a constant. Having a healthy diet overall leads only to happiness and productivity in our lives.

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Opinion: The importance of exercise and healthy eating habits - Los Angeles Times

Sleep, diet, exercise, and stress: these are factors known to change a persons risk of developing numerous non-communicable diseases. Such lifestyle impacts on healthbeneficial or harmfulexert much of their influence via inflammation. About 10 years ago, Matthias Nahrendorf began wondering just how inflammation and lifestyle might be linked biologically, and started thinking about how to pinpoint the mechanism in the cardinal case of cardiovascular disease.

A persons level of inflammation can easily be measured with a simple white blood cell test. White blood cells fight off bacterial invasions and repair damaged tissues, but they can also damage healthy tissue when they become too abundant. You can find them in atherosclerotic plaques, and you can find them in acute infarcts, says Nahrendorf, a professor of radiology who conducts high-resolution imaging research at Massachusetts General Hospital. You can find them in failing hearts and the brain, where they increase the risk of stroke.

By linking exercise to reduced white blood cell production, Nahrendorf shows how a lifestyle factor can modulate cardiovascular risk.

When Nahrendorf learned that the most potent, toxic, and pro-inflammatory white blood cells live only a few hours, or at most a day, he immediately realized that the paramount questionsgiven that they die off quickly yet remain abundant in the bloodare, where and why are they produced? What is their source? Perhaps, he hypothesized, lifestyle factors regulate hematopoiesis (blood production).

To test this idea, he decided to study the effects of exercise on the production of these leukocytes in healthy mice. First, though, he consulted the scientific literature on exercise in mice. Previous researchers, he learned, had found that exercise increases production of inflammatory immune cellswhich I thought was counterintuitive, Nahrendorf recalls. When he looked more carefully, he discovered that the type of exercise used in the studies was forced and thus possibly stressful because it was induced by electric shocks. He therefore decided to test only voluntary exercise. He and his colleagues put a wheel in each mouses cage, so the animals could choose to run if they were interested.

The mice never ran during the day. That is when they rest, Nahrendorf explains. But in the dark, they ran a lot, averaging six to seven miles every night. After three weeks, the exercising mice had measurably lower levels of circulating white blood cells. Exercise, he found, had pushed their blood stem cells (cells that can produce all the different types of blood cells) into a state of quiescence: a kind of dormancy in which they generate fewer pro-inflammatory white blood cells and platelets, without decreasing the number of oxygen-carrying red blood cells. Soon the exercising mice had fewer circulating white blood cells than their sedentary counterparts, dampening inflammationan effect that persisted for weeks.

The local signals within bone marrow that induce quiescence in blood stem cells were already well known, but the fact that exercise could trigger them was not. Nahrendorf next wanted to learn the identity of the trigger linking exercise to blood stem cell quiescence. Further investigation revealed that the only receptors with enhanced activity in the bone marrow niche where most blood stem cells exist were binding to a well-known hormone called leptin; it is produced by fat cells and regulates hunger.

Leptin is like the fuel gauge in a car. When the tank is fullmeaning energy (and food) are abundantleptin levels run high. As exercise uses up the gas in the tank, this lowers leptin levels, which signal that reserves are running low, thereby inducing hunger and the urge to eat in order to replenish depleted energy stores. Nahrendorf and his co-authors speculate in their 2019 Nature Medicine paper that leptins role in regulating energetically costly hematopoiesis may have evolved to produce blood cells only when whole body energy was abundantnot when people are exerting themselves. Contemporary sedentary behavior, they continue, which increases leptin and consequently hematopoiesis, may have rendered this adaptation a risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD) and perhaps also for other diseases with inflammatory components.

But with fewer circulating immune cells, would exercising mice be more vulnerable to infection? Nahrendorf challenged them with a protocol designed to induce infection in the blood, and found just the opposite: exercising mice had a more robust immune response, as semi-dormant blood stem cells swiftly sprang into activity and produced infection-fighting leukocytes, improving survival of the active mice as compared to those with no running wheels in their cages. Next, they investigated whether exercise would help mice with established atherosclerosis, and found that exercise was not only protective, it also reduced the size of existing plaques in the aorta.

Whether these associations would hold up in humans remained an open question. For answers, Nahrendorf turned to a study known as CANTOS, which had measured levels of inflammation in 4,892 patients who suffered heart attacks (see Raw and Red Hot, May-June 2019, page 46). When he approached the studys co-authors, Mallinckrodt professor of medicine Peter Libby and Braunwald professor of medicine Paul Ridker, he learned, serendipitously, not only that they possessed self-reported exercise levels for the participants, but also that they had tested leptin levels as well. They analyzed their raw data and found the same relationship among exercise, leptin, and leukocytes as in the mice. Data from a second human study cemented the result.

By identifying a previously unknown molecular mechanism linking voluntary exercise to reduced white blood cell production, Nahrendorf and his colleagues have highlighted how a lifestyle factor can modulate cardiovascular risk. Their discovery, the researchers hope, will point the way to wider adoption of healthy exercise regimens, and health-enhancing anti-inflammatory drugs.

See the rest here:
Stem cell activity linked to lifestyle - Harvard Magazine

If youre a casual college football fan, then your introduction to LSU wide receiver Justin Jefferson very well may have come during the Peach Bowl on December 28, when the junior caught 14 passes for 227 yards and four touchdowns in the Tigers 63-28 shellacking of the Oklahoma Sooners. Its a crazy stat line, only made crazier when you remember all four touchdowns were in the first half.

Jefferson was a steady hand in the National Championship game as well, catching nine balls for 106 yards as he, Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Joe Burrow, and Americas favorite head coach Ed Orgeron capped off an undefeated season with a 42-25 victory over the Clemson Tigers.

Now Jefferson is a week away from being selected in the 2020 NFL Draft, almost certainly in the first round. Of course, this years draft, which runs April 23 to April 25, wont resemble prior years. Because of the coronavirus crisis, NFL general managers will be making their picks from their own homes, and incoming rookies like Jefferson will also be hunkered down. (For Jefferson, thats with his family in St. Rose, Louisiana.) As a highly-ranked prospect, Jefferson was sent camera gear by the NFL thatll capture the exact moment he finds out his pro destination.

In the meantime, Jefferson is mixing in receiving drills and whatever weight training he can, while also studying playbooks in order to ace phone interviews with NFL general managers and scouts. Below, Jefferson tells GQ more about this unusual draft prep, what Coach O is like in the weight room, and who would win a game of one-on-one between himself and his LSU teammate Burrow, the presumed top overall pick.

GQ: Whats the at-home draft-day outfit going to be?

Justin Jefferson: I dont know yet. Still thinking about whether I want to be all classy, or if I want to lay back. Itll be a last-minute decision, but Ive got to figure out what to rock.

I imagine its been a busy few weeks for you. Can you walk me through an average day of late?

Its been very weird. Everything has been all over the place. Nothing is really scheduled besides interviews. You go to sleep whenever you can and wake up whenever you wake up. I usually get a breakfast in with eggs and bacon and toast, because Ive been trying to keep this weight on me. I tried to keep weight on at school too, but just with all the running we were doing, and the college schedule we have, I wasnt able to maintain the weight that I wanted to. My parents are cooking for me, so for other meals, Im having chicken on the grill, salmon, beans and rice, lots of protein.

I do an afternoon workout, and its chilling the rest of the day. Im not as much a morning person, so if its on my time, I workout in the afternoons. Ive been cleaning up the little things I need to improve on to be the versatile receiver the coaches want me to be. Ive got a field near my house that Ive been working out on with a couple of high school friends. Its been a combination of football workouts and weight-room workouts. I want to keep this strength on me.

How are you staying mentally sharp, especially given all the draft interviews you have lined up?

Im making sure Im studying and looking over plays at night on my iPad when Im laying down and chilling. As long as Im doing that, Im still being reminded of the formations and maintaining my football smarts. [The NFL general managers] definitely want to see if Im a smart football player. Luckily we had similar concepts at LSU, so its been more so seeing what NFL teams call those concepts, and adjusting from there.

Read more:
Justin Jefferson: The Real-Life Diet of the LSU Receiver and Likely First-Round NFL Draft Pick - GQ

High blood pressure is a common condition that affects more than a quarter of all adults in the UK. But you could lower your chances of developing the condition, which is also known as hypertension, by going for regular walks, it's been claimed.

Hypertension increases the risk of developing some deadly complications, including heart attacks and strokes.

It's crucial that you make a few lifestyle changes to lower your blood pressure, if you have hypertension.

One of the easiest ways to manage your blood pressure is to make a few changes to your usual exercise regime.

During the coronavirus lockdown, all high blood pressure patients should consider going for a socially distant walk.

READ MORE: High blood pressure - dementia risk over nighttime hypertension

"Regular exercise is one of the most effective natural remedies for high blood pressure," said Brewer.

She wrote on her website, MyLowerBloodPressure.com: "In fact, exercise is as important as diet for your health and well-being if your blood pressure is raised.

"Physical activity doesnt need to be vigorous. Brisk walking for 30 to 60 minutes a day, most days of the week, produces significant benefits for people with hypertension.

"The exercise needs to be brisk enough to raise your pulse above 100 beats per minute, raise a light sweat and make you slightly breathless but not so much that you cannot hold a conversation."

If walking isn't your thing, you could even reap the exercise rewards for your blood pressure by simply doing some gardening, she added.

Gardening or dancing are just as beneficial for your heart as swimming or cycling.

Any form of exercise that leaves you feeling warm and slightly out of breath is good for your overall heart.

Meanwhile, hypertension is often known as the silent killer, because symptoms only tend to reveal themselves if you have extremely high blood pressure.

See original here:
High blood pressure - the best exercise to lower hypertension risk in COVID-19 lockdown - Express

As part of Cores COVID-19 series, Core Strategy and Research are focusing on key areas of our lives that have been impacted by COVID-19. Cores study titled Accelerating Change is exploring potential consumer behaviour change asking will COVID-19 impact our behaviour into the future, or will things return to a new normal. In this extract, Strategic Planner, Hilary OLeary, outlines one of the themes Food & Fitness.

Every January, my colleagues in Core Research interview people about their health intentions for the year ahead. For the past five years, it has proven to provide a positive story about the health of the nation. Naomi Staff, Managing Director of Core Research describes how they segment the adult population.

We focus on three areas of health food, fitness and well-being. From this, we can segment the country into five groups. The most active and engaged groups account for the majority of the population. 55% of people tell us they monitor their diets and also exercise at least once a week. In fact, nearly one in five of us (17%) say they exercise daily.

According to the 2020 research, this group is also more likely to manage their mental health and report a positive well-being. Demographically, this Active Foodies group is not significantly skewed to any one profile, but instead represents an approach to health which a modern Ireland has adopted a holistic view of regular exercise, a healthy balanced diet and a consideration for their mental health.

This holistic, practical approach has in many ways prepared us for the necessary response to controlling the outbreak of COVID-19 and managing ourselves during these challenging times. With this strong level of engagement with personal health, at Core, we are observing what impact, if any, COVID-19 will have on the personal health management.

69% are doing the same amount or more exercise.

As the country began to stay at home, Core Research asked 1,000 people about their behaviours and whether they were doing more, less or the same amount of various activities. In terms of food and diet, 50% of people are cooking and baking more, particularly families. This is also reflective in online searches and content people are reading on websites.

In terms of fitness, there were initial concerns that a lockdown would have a significant impact on our ability to exercise, based on how other countries such as Italy and Spain had to introduce measures. However, public health experts and the Government have always advised people under 70 to remain active at home, and for everyone else to get daily exercise within 2km of their home.

The public have taken on the advice with 35% of adults saying they are doing the same amount of exercise as they did before COVID-19, while 33% are saying they are doing more exercise. Just over a quarter of adults (26%) say they are doing less, and this is skewed towards people living in Dublin. Young Families and Young Adults (under 40s) living on the Leinster commuter belt, and in Munster and along the west coast are saying they are doing more exercise than they usually do. With no daily commutes, there is now time to get active.

Personal Health Management beyond COVID-19

During this period of increased concern about the health of our own family and of our communities, people are continuing to proactively manage their health. This is not a sudden change because of the COVID-19 outbreak, but when we return to some of the findings in the Core Research Health 2020 report, there might be some indications of how we manage our health in the future.

The research asked people about how interested would people be in using technology to manage their personal health. 66% of people are interested in fitness trackers highlighting the growth in usage across all age groups and 64% would be interested in tech which analysed their health and predicted illness. While in recent weeks there has been an increase in online yoga, meditation and fitness videos such as Joe Wicks, only 32% said they would be interested in a subscription to a fitness instructor via video link.

As part of this on-going series, collaborating with Core Research, we will be observing and tracking any potential changes in how people research, practice and monitor their personal health. Most importantly we will want to understand the impact COVID-19 will have on peoples attitude to their holistic well-being. We will observe if attitudes in exercising at home via tech has changed. How have people adapted their physical health habits? After living with anxiety and uncertainty for many months and coping with social distancing, will people place more value on their mental health? Will people have a new level of resilience and determination to look after themselves and their family?

This understanding will inform how we develop future plans for brands that want to connect with the majority of the population who are engaged with a healthy lifestyle and maintaining their well-being.

Understanding the health and well-being habits of the population will be important to many brands who have a role in this space.

If you would like to find out more on the health habits of the nation to help inform the next steps in your marketing strategy and planning, please get in touch.

For more information about Cores COVID-19 series, see http://www.onecore.ie/covid

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69% of People Remain Active During Lockdown According to Core Research - AdWorld

In physiology, frailty is an umbrella term. It includes various age-associated impairments that contribute to reduced health and function among older adults.

The multifaceted condition is an inevitable feature of the aging process, but it is conditional on a few factors. Its onset and pathology depend on behavioral, psychological, genetic and dietary conditions.

Comorbidities also have a huge role to play with respect to the rate of decline.

Sadly, a new study conducted by researchers at Flinders University posits that pre-frailty, which includes poor balance, a decreased ability to control spinal and pelvic posture, diminished foot sensations, and an impaired ability to maintain weight and nutrition, occurs in 45% of people between the ages of 40 and 49.

This research identified pre-frailty and frailty states in people aged in their 40s and 50s. Pre-frailty in body systems performance can be detected by a range of mutable measures, and interventions to prevent progression to frailty could be commenced from the fourth decade of life, the authors wrote in the new paper. There is little known about pre-frailty attributes or when changes that contribute to frailty might be detectable and amenable to change. This study explores pre-frailty and frailty in independent community-dwelling adults aged 4075years.

The authors procured their 665 participants from local council networks, a national bank and a university located in Adelaide, Australia.

Frailty scores were calculated via the presence of the following phenotypes:

If a participant did not evidence any of the phenotypes indexed above they were classified as not-frail.

Participants who endured between one and two phenotypes were categorized as pre-frail. Lastly, patients who exhibited three or more phenotypes were identified as medically frail.

Factor analysis was applied to binary forms of 25 published frailty measures Differences were tested in mean factor scores between the three Fried frailty phenotypes and ROC curves estimated predictive capacity of factors, the authors continued.

Of 656 participants, 59.2% were classified as not frail, 39.0% pre-frail and 1.8% frail. There were no gender or age differences. Seven frailty factors were identified, incorporating all 25 frailty measures. Factors 1 and 7 significantly predicted progression from not-frail to pre-frail, combined dynamic trunk stability and lower limb functional strength, balance, foot sensation, hearing, lean muscle mass, and low BMI; comprising continence and nutrition.

When we strip all of the poetry away, aging is a slow and precise process, commissioned by a board of biological systems. Everything from sunlight to food becomes increasingly toxic to us, forcing degeneration to undertake a quicker and quicker pace.

Understanding this fundamental process enables cosmetics and therapeutics to offset certain key mechanisms. Even so, we dont have a hope of bypassing natures intended wholesale.

The only way to evade agings wrath, medically speaking, is by yielding to its certainty.

Diet, exercise, quality sleep, and a stable mental state foster the kind of conditions that allow us to age gracefully if not fractionally slower than the purported norm.

Successful aging seeks to optimize health and independence Indicators for successful aging include minimal chronic disease, physical decline or depressive symptoms, and optimized social support, social participation and economic satisfaction, the authors conclude. People working from home during the self-isolation period can take the opportunity to reassess their health, habits, and routines to seek ways to make their daily routines and homes better places to live, and live longer in the process, concludes study co-author Professor Anthony Maeder, from the Digital Health Research Centre at Flinders University.

Be sure to read the full report published in the Journal BMC Geriatrics.

Read the rest here:
The surprisingly early age our bodies begin to break down - Ladders