IFC Wellness

18/07/2022

Neuroplasticity was a relatively unknown term until the 1970s when scientists began accepting the notion that our brain is a not a physiologically static organ, becoming fixed shortly after birth with approximately 100 billion neurons (nerve cells) (1, 2). Over the past 15 to 20 years, this field of study has expanded dramatically given the discovery of various compounds capable of changing both brain structure and function throughout life and how each is positively impacted by exercise, physical activity and even mental exercises (3, 4).

Perhaps the most impressive success story connecting exercise to improved brain function is the Learning Readiness Physical Education Program, founded as the Zero Hour PE program at Naperville Central High School in Chicago in the 1990s (5). The original purpose of the program was to examine whether working out before school would improve a student’s learning capacity in the classroom. Since the program’s inception and through its evolution, students in this school district now rank among the fittest and smartest in the nation.

In fact, this district’s eighth graders have outperformed the US national average on the Trends in International Math and Science Study (TIMMS), even beating out many students in China, Japan and Singapore who have traditionally outranked American students. So what is going on?

Daniel Lieberman, a paleoanthropologist at Harvard University, has been researching human evolution and has demonstrated how our brain and skull have evolved over time in order to preserve our survival as a species (6). Our need to think, process, strategize, hunt in teams, and function and communicate within social groups has spurred growth within various regions of our brain and improved our overall brain function. This growth of our brain, especially specific regions like the frontal lobe which is connected to conscious thinking, decision-making, planning, judgment, analysis and inhibition, continues into our modern era.

Our brain can also suffer losses and shrink in the form of decreased mental efficiency and memory decline as we age. In fact, memory loss is cited as a primary cognitive complaint in older adults. It is estimated that approximately 10% of adults over the age of 65 years have some form of cognitive impairment and this statistic increases to approximately 50% of adults over the age of 80 years (7). Although this decline is generally attributed to overall physiological losses within our brain cells, the potential impact of disease (e.g., Alzheimer’s), an overall lack of brain use, or the effect of depression or medications, the key biological risk factors associated with these declines include:

Oxidative stress – our brain utilizes approximately 20% of the body’s oxygen supply and over time, the accumulation of free radicals may result in damage to DNA and essential lipids within the brain that triggers neuronal death.
Inflammatory agents accumulate in the brain. Generally, they are filtered out by our blood brain barrier (BBB), a fine capillary network separating cerebral blood flow from systemic circulation. With aging, we experience less filtration of many inflammatory agents (e.g., cytokines like interleukin-1 beta) which can destroy neurons and inhibit neurogenesis (the growth of new neurons).
Elevated levels of homocysteine, a naturally occurring amino acids found in plasma promotes atherosclerosis within vessels, thereby reducing cerebral blood flow, memory and overall brain volume.
Hormonal imbalances and hormonal losses within the body – key steroid hormones like estrogen, testosterone and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) collectively help preserve cognitive ability but decrease with aging.
Declining cerebrovascular health – healthy blood vessels and elevated HDL-cholesterol levels facilitate blood flow into the regions of the brain like the gray matter.
Hypertension – small capillaries within the brain are susceptible to damage caused by chronically-elevated blood pressure.
Diabetes and insulin-resistance – hyperglycemia and the inability to utilize glucose has been linked with lower levels of neuronal growth factors, decreased brain volume, and higher incidence of dementia.
Stress and anxiety trigger greater sustained levels of cortisol which can damage brain tissue (discussed later in this article).
Many of these triggers to cognitive decline are inevitable, but can we slow down, stop or even reverse these age-related decreases? The answer is yes, and an ever-growing list of compounds continues to be discovered that collectively lead to improved brain health and function. Interestingly, these compounds appear to be more important in some regions of the brain versus others. For example, the hippocampus, a region of the brain involved in converting short-term information into long-term knowledge, losses its mass and capacity as we age, but is significantly impacted by increased levels of some of these compounds (2, 8-10).

Brain-derived Neurotropic Factor (BDNF) is perhaps the most important as it stimulates neurogenesis and increases dendrite (nerve ending) length, thickness and density which improves nerve connectivity, especially in the hippocampus. BDNF strengthens and cleans synapses (junctions between two nerves), enhances synaptic efficiency, and increases synaptic mapping (connectivity between neurons and new circuits to offset lost circuits). (Find out more on BDNF and exercise.)
Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) helps build new capillaries within the brain, improving oxygen and glucose delivery to the various regions of our brain.
Fibroblast Growth Factor-2 (FGF-2) stimulates brain tissue growth by improving synaptic efficiency and the affinity neurons may share for each other to facilitate learning and retention.
Insulin-like Growth Factor-1 (IGF-1), manufactured within muscle cells, it is pushed into the brain and helps increase glucose uptake into cells, thereby providing the fuel needed by BDNF.
So how do we spark increases of these compounds? A good majority of research has focused upon the effects of exercise on increasing levels of these compounds (10). Low-to-moderate intensities of cardio stimulate increases BDNF, but little increases in IGF-1. By comparison, moderate-to-vigorous intensities of cardio (> 65% of VO2max) increases levels of BDNF, VEGF, FGF-2, IGF-1, and even human growth hormone (HGH) which contributes to building brain mass. Resistance training performed two times a week also demonstrates increases in BDNF, VEGF, FGF-2, IGF-1 and HGH. Exercising daily versus on alternate days results in greater increase in BDNF (150% v. 124%), but levels become equal after about four weeks of training (10). Exercise also improves the efficiency of our BBB and promotes greater balance between many of our brain’s neurotransmitters like serotonin, dopamine, norepinephrine, glutamate and GABA, which will positively affect moods and cognition.

13/07/2022

When time is tight, it can be difficult to do your usual 30- to 60-minute workout. For those days, a Tabata-style workout may be the answer. Tabata is a form of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) that requires just four minutes to complete. In fact, research suggests this form of HIIT could actually be more effective than three, 30-minute sessions running on a treadmill for improving aerobic capacity.

Researchers organized 55 healthy, young male participants into three separate training groups for a 16-week workout program:

HIIT-T (High-intensity interval training on a treadmill): Seventeen participants performed a Tabata protocol on a treadmill. They ran at a velocity associated with 130% of VO2max for 20 seconds, followed by a 10-second rest, and repeated this pattern for eight cycles for a total of four minutes.

HIIT-WB (High-intensity interval training with whole-body exercises): Nineteen participants conducted Tabata intervals using body-weight movements including burpees, mountain climbers, jumping jacks and squat thrusts with 3-kg kettlebells.

MICT (Moderate-intensity continuous training): Nineteen participants ran on a treadmill for 30 minutes at an intensity associated with 90% of the heart rate at the second ventilatory threshold (VT2), a training intensity associated with an increase in breathing rate and an inability to talk comfortably while exercising.

For the warm-up to each workout, the HITT-T group did a four-minute warm-up on the treadmill, the HIIT-WB group used the same body-weight exercises but moved at a much slower tempo for four minutes, and the MICT group gradually increased running tempo.

At the end of the 16-week training protocols, each group had improved their fitness levels, which was measured by time to reach VT2 and the time to reach exhaustion. The HIIT-T group demonstrated better results than the HIIT-WB or MICT groups, supporting the idea that HIIT is a time-efficient workout solution. This is great news for those days when time can be a factor and a gym workout just isn’t feasible. In other words, when time gets tight, a four-minute Tabata workout may be sufficient for maintaining your current level of fitness.

Here are two options for applying this research to your own Tabata-style protocols:

At a health club, use a rowing machine to complete a four­-minute Tabata consisting of 20 seconds of sprinting followed by 10 seconds of resting while standing on the side rails. Repeat this pattern eight times. (A rowing machine is recommended because it involves both the arms and legs working together and does not place additional stress on the knee or back joints.)

Use body-weight exercises for a Tabata, which can be perfect on those days when your schedule doesn’t allow time for a trip to a gym or when you’re traveling and are stuck in a hotel. The following circuit (patterned after the one used in the study) is ideal. If you don’t have weights available, replace the squat thrusts with ice skaters (hopping laterally from one foot to the other).

Burpees

Mountain climbers

Squat thrusts or ice skaters

Jumping jacks

The entire workout should take about 12 minutes because you should allow some time for a warm-up and cool-down with stretching for the involved muscles. For the warm-ups, follow the workout protocols from the research study outlined above. Here are some general guidelines when performing the body-weight exercises:

Keep your spine long. When your spine is extended, you use more of your hips.

Move from your hips. Whether you are hinging forward or rotating, make sure that the movement comes from your hips, not your spine.

To increase activation of your core muscles, press your feet and hands firmly into the floor when they make contact. Imagine you are trying to push the floor away from you, which can help improve activation of your deep core muscles.

While it’s always nice to have a long, stress-reducing workout session, there will be days when time really is a factor. For this reason, it’s nice to know that time-efficient Tabata-style workouts really do work and produce results.

13/07/2022

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12/07/2022

WHAT IS MUSCLE MEMORY?
Muscle memory describes the ability to regain muscle mass in previously trained muscles. This means that once you’ve gained muscle mass through strength training if you lose it after taking time off from training, you can regain the muscle mass faster than the amount of time that it took to put it on in the first place.

This is good news!

HOW DOES MUSCLE MEMORY WORK?

Muscle memory doesn’t have to do with your muscle cells “remembering” exercise. As your muscles are trained, the number of muscle fiber nuclei, or myonuclei, can increase as muscle mass increases. There is still debate within the scientific community about the volume of strength training required for myonuclei to increase in number.

In a research review by Snijders et. al. (2020), data shows a linear relationship between muscle fiber size and the number of myonuclei in humans. This would suggest that hypertrophy training, and an increase in muscle size, would increase myonuclei.

The question that researchers are still debating is: What happens to the myonuclei during periods of inactivity? If you gain muscle mass, but then stop training, do you lose all the myonuclei that were gained during training?

Research performed on animals by Egner et al. (2013) shows that myonuclei that are gained during overload hypertrophy are not lost during 3 months of muscle atrophy when the muscle returns to its original size. Even though the muscle size decreased during this period of inactivity, the number of myonuclei did not. This research seemed very promising because it suggested that even though the muscle size decreased, the potential for faster muscle re-growth was there since the number of myonuclei was retained.

This is potentially good news for aging adults and those who may have had to take time off for training due to various reasons (like a pandemic, for example). There is some promising research in humans that suggests that myonuclei are retained after short-term physical inactivity and that rapid muscle re-gain is possible (Snijders et al., 2020). There is still a limited amount of research to fully support this view, however, so it is important to consider the current limitations of research.

08/07/2022

08/07/2022

Its all about the starting point

Reducing fat may be viewed by many as difficult, and to some impossible, but it doesn’t need to be. For the past five years I have had the opportunity to deliver personalised wellness programs to a diverse group of around ~1000 people and it has taught me a lot about weight loss.

The people I supported had unlimited access to biometric testing (body-fat, weight, and blood pressure), along with bi-annual or annual blood tests which measured cholesterol, triglycerides, and HbA1c levels. This unique opportunity, provided by a forward thinking multinational company, has allowed me to prescribe wellness programs on a large scale, continually adjust individual programs over a span of 5 years, and objectively measure outcomes.

By the end of five years I’d created a framework which could be applied almost universally. I focused on it being easy to understand and maintainable long term. The average participant in this program saw a 5 – 10% sustainable reduction in body-fat, along with improvements in key markers of health.

The results showed that it was unlikely a person’s metabolism was the main reason they were not losing weight. Granted some people did have it easier, however when lifestyle changes were made everyone I worked with lost fat and improved markers of health.

The key lessons learnt

Dieting doesn’t work because it’s not sustainable. People can lose weight following a diet but they can’t sustain the loss. If instead I gave them a framework which considered their current life situation, and helped them with strategies to improve their relationship with food, they generally had good long term success.

Don’t push for perfection. Never eliminate a food or food group from someone’s diet. People will still lose weight if they eat food that is unhealthy, they just need help with finding the balance.

There is a lot of bad information out there. It is not from lack of trying that most people are not losing weight, it is from lack of quality information. Carbs do not make people fat, fasting is not magical, and most people who incorporated cheat meals struggled with losing weight.

Changes need to be slowly introduced. Everyone wants to lose weight fast. However, If I slowed people down, made small changes, and only made the next change when the previous one was firmly established, fat loss was surprisingly easy.

Track metrics not calories. Tracking is essential, but it also needs to be easy. If people were willing to track key metrics they were basically guaranteed some fat lost, however if I made tracking too difficult (counting calories) they would generally drop out of the program.

Mix resistance and cardio training. Most people think they need to run to lose weight. However as a general rule relying on cardio only to lose weight is at best futile, and at worst counterproductive. It usually delivers limited results and a lot of times results in injury.

The wellness program framework

Find the baseline, this would generally mean not changing anything for a week and measuring, bodyweight, steps, calories burned, exercise, and food intake.

Make a small adjustment from baseline, and do not try to progress until it has become the ‘new normal’.

Learn how to reduce the frequency of the foods which move you away from your goal, while never eliminating them completely.

Only increase your level of activity in small increments, making sure to keep the volume at a level that is realistically sustainable.

Always incorporate some strength training, it is a key ingredient to fat loss and overall health.

Learn how to break-up time seated during the day with low level movement.

While the framework above highlights the basic principles, in the next few posts I will dive deeper into food choices, tracking biometrics, and exercise, as I have only skimmed over these components.

08/07/2022

Vitamin D

What is Vitamin D?

Historically humans obtained ~80% of their vitamin D requirement via sunlight exposure to the skin, with the remaining ~20% coming from dietary intake. (1) However, modern living habits have reduced skin exposure to the sun, and very few non-fortified foods we now consume contain significant amounts of vitamin D. (2) Because of this lifestyle shift a large proportion of the general population is vitamin D deficient, with observational studies finding ~40% of Europeans to be deficient and ~13% severely deficient. (3)

Vitamin D is essential for maintaining bone health and muscular function, it helps to protect against cognitive decline, and supports our immune system. (4) Adequate intake of vitamin D has also been correlated with increased resistance and reduced severity of Covid-19, however human clinical studies are still lacking. (5)

Are you Deficient?

People most at risk of vitamin D deficiency include:

Those who have limited direct sunlight exposure or always use sunblock when exposed

People with darker skin

Those over 50 years of age

Unfortunately vitamin D status can only be determined via blood draw, with the serum (blood) concentration of its 25- hydroxylated (25-(OH)D) form the common marker measured.

11/06/2022

Для того, чтобы из дурной жизни сделалась хорошая, надо прежде всего постараться понять, отчего жизнь стала дурная и что надо сделать, чтобы она стала хорошей. Так что для того, чтобы жизнь стала лучше, надо прежде думать, а потом уже делать.