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The commander of Russia's Pacific Fleet has resigned, Russian President Vladimir Putin's representative in the country's Far East announced on Thursday. Putin's envoy, Yury Trutnev, said that Admiral Sergei Avakyants, 65, has been appointed the head of a group that is in charge of military sports training and patriotic education, Russia news outlet Kommersant reported. Avakyants had held the position as commander of the Pacific Fleet since 2012. News of his resignation comes a week after Russia decided to conduct missile launches and torpedo tests as part of a "surprise inspection" of its Pacific Fleet. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu...

Regular exercise at some point in life is a key to better cognitive health in old age, researchers say. Starting sooner is better and sustaining it longer are, too. A new British study has found that exercising at least once a month at any time in adulthood is linked to better thinking and memory function in later life. People who reported being physically active at least one to four times per month in separate surveys at the ages of 36, 43, 53, 60 to 64, and 69 had the biggest benefit. The effect was greater than for those who said...

Overclassification ensures the public won’t get a full view into the government’s behind-the-scenes machinations leading up to the events of January 6. The public is gradually learning how, despite repeated denials and non-answers, top government officials were well aware of the potential for violence on January 6, 2021. A chief investigator on the January 6 select committee told NBC News last week that law enforcement was privy to a trove of intelligence indicating problems could arise during the election certification process but, for some unexplained reason, chose to ignore the warning signs. “The Intel in advance was pretty specific, and...

Six minutes of high-intensity exercise could extend the lifespan of a healthy brain and delay the onset of neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. New research published in The Journal of Physiology shows that a short but intense bout of cycling increases the production of a specialized protein that is essential for brain formation, learning and memory, and could protect the brain from age-related cognitive decline. The specialized protein named brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) promotes neuroplasticity (the ability of the brain to form new connections and pathways) and the survival of neurons. Animal studies have shown that...

Shortly before Christmas, when no one was paying attention, the people who make Hollywood’s latest fave fad diet drug got the green light to give the stuff to fat kids. And as they’ve done during COVID, the American Academy of Pediatrics saluted smartly and promptly switched its fat kid guidance, moving from medical oversight, diet, therapies, and exercise to interventions that doctors and Big Pharma control: surgery and the newly approved drug.Now, after the American Academy of Pediatrics approved giving the injectable diabetes drug semaglutide, found in Ozempic and Wegovy, to kids, the group has switched its guidance from wait...

Is five minutes of exercise a day enough? If a big commitment is daunting, there’s good news for those who prefer to start small, says this professor.One of the most popular New Year’s resolutions is to exercise more. Many of us set ambitious goals requiring a big, regular commitment, but then abandon them because they’re too much to fit in. Plans to exercise more in the new year are often broken within a month. So how can we exercise more regularly in the new year? If the aim is to build long-term fitness and health, the exercise must be sustainable....

How did U.S. exercise trends go from reinforcing white supremacy to celebrating Richard Simmons? That evolution is explored in a new book by a historian of exercise, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, author of the book Fit Nation: The Gains and Pains of America’s Exercise Obsession, out Jan. 2023. Nowadays, at the beginning of every New Year, many Americans hit the gym to work off their holiday feasts. This momentum usually starts to fade in mid-January, according to a 2019 analysis of data on fitness tracking apps by Bloomberg. But such new year’s resolutions are pretty new—as is the concept of exercise...

Fitness influencers and Twitter users blasted a TIME interview for portraying exercise as an activity with roots in White supremacy. "How did U.S. exercise trends go from reinforcing white supremacy to celebrating Richard Simmons?" the TIME article, titled "The White Supremacist Origins of Exercise, and 6 Other Surprising Facts about the History of U.S. Physical Fitness" asked. The article was heavily mocked on Twitter, with critics saying it was destroying the media's credibility. "Honestly, I want them to keep pumping articles like this out to eviscerate every remaining shred of their credibility and perceived legitimacy," British rapper Zuby tweeted. "It...

Regular physical activity can extend colorectal cancer patients' lives. In a first-ever study, scientists looked at the impact of exercise on the gut microbiome of cancer patients and reported a positive association. Researchers found physical activity was also beneficial to obese cancer patients, who typically have a less healthy gut microbiome. The team found that regular physical activity can aid in creating a healthy gut microbiome, while also reducing inflammation. These findings were reported in patients independent of their body mass index (BMI). "A patient who is active has a more diverse microbiome and lower abundances of colorectal cancer-promoting bacteria,...

A study found aerobic exercise can reduce the risk of metastatic cancer by 72%. According to the researchers, intensity aerobic exercise increases the glucose (sugar) consumption of internal organs, thereby reducing the availability of energy to the tumor. The study combined an animal model with human volunteers. The human data indicated 72% less metastatic cancer in participants who reported regular aerobic activity at high intensity, compared to those who did not engage in physical exercise. The animal model exhibited a similar outcome. Prof. Levy stated, "Our study is the first to investigate the impact on the lungs, liver, and lymph...

Exercising on an empty stomach helped people to burn about 70% more fat than those who exercised two hours after eating, a study found. Sports scientists also found that the participants—who undertook both fasted and fed exercise in the evening—did not overcompensate for the calories skipped earlier in the day. While studies have suggested the benefits of exercise could be increased when done in the morning following an overnight fast, the team's own research found that evening exercise, between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m., is the most popular time for people due to other commitments. Therefore, the researchers designed the...

If the brain no longer responds correctly to the hormone insulin (insulin resistance), this also has a negative effect on the metabolism in the body and the regulation of eating behavior. A recent study shows that as little as eight weeks of exercise can help restore the brain's insulin sensitivity in severely overweight adults. This opens up new therapeutic possibilities for reducing obesity and diabetes risk factors in the future. Fourteen women and seven men aged 21–59 years with a body mass index of 27.5–45.5 took part in the study. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was used to determine insulin...

Bright orange scooters now share — and sometimes command — Pittsburgh’s sidewalks. They’re an integral part of the Move PGH pilot project, the city’s plan to bundle transit options to help residents get around without owning a car, whether by bus, bike, scooter, zip car or more. Statistics reported by Move PGH, a year into its two-year pilot, are encouraging: People have taken more than 576,000 scooter trips for a total of hundreds of thousands of miles. They have biked tens of thousands of miles, and ridden Scoobi mopeds for more than 14,000 miles. Experience has dispelled Initial fears about...

Regular treadmill exercise helped improve Parkinson's disease symptoms in mice in a recent study. Scientists found positive results in using exercise to stop the spread of the α-synuclein protein and reverse biochemical, cellular, and anatomical changes that occur in the brains of mice with Parkinson's disease in the absence of drugs. The mice ran on a treadmill consistently in 30-minute intervals for six days a week, over two months. Pahan and his team were quick to note while treadmill exercise is something that can be easily available and accessible, some patients with Parkinson's might not be able to run on...

This latest research indicates a little bit of daily activity could well be the most beneficial approach, at least for muscle strength. And happily, it also suggests you don't have to put in a mountain of work every day. The four-week training study had three groups of participants performing an arm resistance exercise and changes in muscle strength and muscle thickness were measured and compared. The exercise consisted of 'maximal voluntary eccentric bicep contractions' performed on a machine which measures muscle strength in each muscle contraction you would do at the gym. An eccentric contraction is when the muscle is...

"If that stubborn body fat isn't going away, consider adding High-Intensity-Interval-Training or HIIT to your exercise routine," says Professor Zeljko Pedisic of Victoria University, Melbourne. HIIT increases fat burning more than aerobic exercise, finds a study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. How was the study conducted? Authors of the study pooled results from 18 controlled intervention trials on the effects of HIIT on the rate of fat burning during exercise. The intervention trials included a total of 511 adult participants who were engaged in supervised HIIT, moderate-intensity aerobic exercise, or a non-exercising control group. The duration of...

Researchers say they have debunked the urban myth that healthy underweight people “eat whatever they want and burn it off with exercise”. A study of healthy Chinese adults considered underweight, according to the widely used Body Mass Index (BMI), found they not only do not eat as much food as people with a “normal” BMI, they are also less physically active. More from AsiaOne Read the condensed version of this story, and other top stories with NewsLite. “Our data suggests they eat about 12 per cent less than adults with a normal BMI,” the team of scientists wrote in an...

Elite tennis players have an uncanny ability to clear their heads after making errors. They constantly move on and start fresh for the next point. They can’t afford to dwell on mistakes. Peter Strick is not a professional tennis player. He’s a distinguished professor and chair of the department of neurobiology at the University of Pittsburgh Brain Institute. He’s the sort of person to dwell on mistakes, however small. . . . . . .For a long time, it has been understood that the adrenal glands were turned on and off by a couple discrete pathways coming from the brain....

The inability to stand on one leg for 10 seconds in mid- to later life is linked to a near doubling in the risk of death from any cause within the next 10 years, finds research. To improve standardization of the test, participants were asked to place the front of the free foot on the back of the opposite lower leg, while keeping their arms by their sides and their gaze fixed straight ahead. Up to three attempts on either foot were permitted. In all, around 1 in 5 (20.5%; 348) participants failed to pass the test. The inability to...

Researchers identified a greater increase in functional capacity, the ability to perform activities of daily living, as a result of Nordic walking in patients with coronary heart disease compared to standard high-intensity interval training and moderate-to-vigorous intensity continuous training. Cardiovascular rehabilitation and exercise training programs following major cardiovascular events are associated with considerable improvements in functional capacity and cardiorespiratory fitness, as well as mental health. However, some individuals do not enjoy monotonous forms of exercise, such as walking and stationary cycling, and therefore may stop exercising once their cardiovascular rehabilitation program is completed. Researchers explored more diverse exercise options that...