Community Magazine February 2014

To • • Health EXCESSIVE SPORTS ACTIVITIES BAD FOR TEENS Teenagers have long been told that being active and taking part in sports is good for their health. But new research suggests that too much sport for teenagers could negatively impact their wellbeing just as much as too little physical activity. The US Department of Health and Human Services recommends that children between the ages of 6 and 17 years engage in at least 60 minutes of physical activity a day, or seven hours a week. Researchers from Switzerland andCanada, however, say their study, published in the BMJ journal Archives of Disease in Childhood , suggests that 14 hours of physical activity a week is best for promoting good health in teenagers, while more than 14 hours appears to be detrimental to their health. The researchers surveyed 1,245 teenagers aged between 16 and 20 from Switzerland. Their wellbeing was assessed using the World Health Organization (WHO) Well-Being Index, which provides scores between 0 and 25. A score below 13 is an indicator of poor wellbeing. The researchers categorized sports participation as low (0-3.5 hours a week), average (3.6-10.5 hours), high (10.6-17.5 hours), and very high (more than 17.5 hours). Low sports activity was found in 35 percent of subjects, 41.5 percent had average activity, 18.5 percent had high, while 5 percent had very high. The researchers found that participants in the low and very high activity groups were more than twice as likely to have wellbeing scores below 13, and the highest wellbeing scores were obtained by participants who carried out around 14 hours of physical activity a week. Beyond 14 hours resulted in lower wellbeing scores. Physical activity has been associated with positive emotional wellbeing, reduced depressive, anxiety and stress disorders, and improved self-esteem in children and adolescents. However, this study found that sports activity ceased to be a protective factor and became an independent risk factor for poor wellbeing if one exceeds more than twice the seven recommended hours per week. CONSISTENT SLEEP PATTERNS TIED TO HEALTHIERWEIGHT A new study published in the American Journal of Health Promotion suggests that keeping to a consistent sleep routine may help people maintain a healthier weight. Bruce Bailey, a professor in exercise science at Brigham Young University, found that women who woke at the same time and went to sleep at the same every day had lower body fat. “We have these internal clocks and throwing them off and not allowing them to get into a pattern does have an impact on our physiology,” Professor Bailey said. While previous studies have looked at sleep patterns and weight, this is the first study to look at the link between consistency of bed and wake time and body fat. The results showed that: A consistent bedtime, but particularly a consistent wake time, was linked to lower body fat. Sleeping less than 6.5 or more than 8.5 hours a night was tied to higher body fat. Sleeping between 8 and 8.5 hours a night was tied to the lowest levels of body fat. Participants whose wake and sleep time varied by more than 90 minutes had more body fat than those whose variations were limited to 60 minutes. The study showed that wake time consistency was particularly tied to body fat. The participants who consistently woke at the same time every day had the least body fat. HEART VALVE REPLACEMENT BE- COMING SAFER FOR SENIORS A growing number of American seniors are having heart valve replacements, and the risk of complications from the surgery is decreasing, new research finds. “Aortic valve replacement is standard treatment even for very elderly patients despite its risks in this age group,” according to background information in the study, which was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association . Traditionally, this surgery has involved coronary artery bypass graft surgery, where blood vessels are taken from other parts of the body and used to reroute blood flow around a blocked blood vessel in the heart. A less invasive method called transcatheter aortic valve replacement is a newer option that is also being used, the researchers said. In order to get a more updated look at the results of heart valve replacement surgeries, they analyzed data from nearly 83 million Medicare patients who underwent the procedure between 1999 and 2011. During that time, the amount of these surgeries being performed increased in all age, gender and race groups, and most notably among patients aged 75 and older. Fatality rates 30 days after the procedure decreased by an average of 4.1 percent a year during the study period, while fatality rates one year after the procedure fell by 2.5 percent. Researcher Dr. Jose Augusto Barreto- Filho, of the Federal University of Sergipe, in Brazil, explained the significance of this study by noting, “These findings may provide a useful benchmark for outcomes of aortic valve replacement surgery for older patients’ eligible for surgery [who are] considering newer transcatheter treatments.” 82 COMMUNITY MAGAZINE