A Sedentary Lifestyle in Low Back Pain and Cardiovascular Disease

A lifestyle in which an individual engages in very little physical activity is often called a sedentary lifestyle. And individuals in every region of the world are becoming less active. People tend to be sedentary when they engage in leisure activities such as using computers, watching television, or playing video games. Also, while people are at work, they frequently complete their tasks while seated at a desk. For older people, leading a sedentary lifestyle can raise a person's chance of developing cardiovascular disease as well as lower back pain.

According to the findings of one study, leading a sedentary lifestyle can increase the likelihood of developing low back pain (LBP). To perform the investigation, which was a meta-analysis, the researchers looked at 27 separate studies. The studies were discussed in articles that were made available in databases such as PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Scopus. The analysis of the 27 studies revealed that leading a sedentary lifestyle increased one's likelihood of developing LBP. 

For instance, utilizing a computer at work for longer than four hours a day can result in LBP. LBP might develop if a person spends more than seven hours a day sitting. Additionally, LBP may result from playing video games for at least twelve hours a week.

And with respect to a sedentary lifestyle in older people, a recent Finnish study looked at a cohort of  660 subjects, consisting of 277 men and 383 women. The mean age of the group was 68.9 years, and the study took place from 2013 to 2015.

The researchers found that a lower risk of cardiovascular disease is seen in older persons who limit their inactive time and engage in more daily physical exercise -- of any intensity. In fact, reducing inactive time and engaging in mild physical exercise are linked to lower all-cause mortality.

Since sedentary lifestyle can lead to LBP and increased cardiovascular risk, healthcare providers should encourage their patients to engage in exercise. And by the way, not only can exercise help treat LBP and lower cardiovascular risk, exercise may slow the decline in cognitive skills.

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Tags: environmental scanning, balanced scorecard, business planning, strategic management, bariatric industry analysis, weight loss industry analysis, weight management industry analysis, prediabetes

Preventing Type 2 Diabetes Using Continuous Glucose Monitoring and A Smartphone APP

Prediabetes is a condition where blood sugar levels are higher than normal, but not high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes. It affects about one in three adults in the US, and increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. However, prediabetes can be reversed or slowed with lifestyle changes, such as eating healthy, exercising, and losing weight, thereby, delaying or preventing type 2 diabetes. And continuous glucose monitoring might prove to be helpful in the prevention of type 2 diabetes for some with prediabetes.

The CDC National Diabetes Prevention Program was established to enable individuals with prediabetes or a high risk of developing type 2 diabetes to prevent or delay the disease. The program uses intensive lifestyle intervention. Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) might help people maintain their intensive lifestyle.
 
CGM is a system that uses a small sensor inserted under the skin to measure blood sugar levels every few minutes, and sends the data to a receiver or a smartphone app. The app can display the current blood sugar level, as well as the trends, patterns, and alerts. CGM can provide more information and feedback than finger prick testing, and can help people with prediabetes understand how their food, activity, and sleep affect their blood sugar.

A recent study found that CGM can also diagnose prediabetes earlier than a blood sugar test, and might motivate people to make lifestyle changes sooner. Another study showed that using CGM and a mobile app that integrates food logging and physical activity can improve blood sugar regulation in people with prediabetes and type 2 diabetes.

More research is needed to determine if CGM and a smartphone app, for example, can be a useful tool for treating prediabetes, and thus preventing type 2 diabetes, for the long term. And do so cost effectively. However, CGM may have a future in diabetes prevention.

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Tags: environmental scanning, balanced scorecard, business planning, strategic management, bariatric medicine, obesity medicine, medical practice start up, bariatric industry analysis, weight loss industry analysis, weight management industry analysis   

A Plant-Based Diet Can Improve Insulin Resistance and Lipids for Obese Individuals

Plant-based diets are frequently in the news today, because the diets appear to be beneficial in combating many chronic diseases, including obesity, high blood pressure, chronic kidney disease, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease(CVD) and diabetes." And a recent study has shown that a vegan diet, which is plant-based, can improve insulin resistance as well as CVD parameters, such as blood lipids, in obese individuals. 

First of all, a plant-based diet may be anything from a semi-vegetarian diet, consisting of small portions of animal products, to a vegan diet, which excludes all animal products. And compared to diets that include animal products, plant-based diets can be significantly helpful in the treatment of CVD.

In the study mentioned above, a vegan diet was also helpful, not only in imparoving CVD parameters, but also in lowering insulin resistance. The study was a meta-analysis where the researchers selected six studies in seven datasets. And it was found that the vegan diet improved insulin resistance, total cholesterol, HDL and LDL in persons with obesity. It should be noted that in this study, a plant-based diet appeared to have no effect on triglycerides.

The benefits of a plant-based diet are also evident in persons who have an increased genetic CVD risk profile. In one study consisting of 156,148 adult subjects, who did not have CVD, investigators found that adherence to a plant-based diet slowly decreased the risk of CVD even for persons who have a high genetic risk for CVD. Indeed, investigators concluded that “adherence to healthy plant-based diets may be associated with a decreased incidence of CVD in the entire population, suggesting that plant-based diet patterns may modify the risk of CVD, regardless of genetic susceptibility.”

Since the use of a plant-based diet can improve CVD risk factors and insulin resistance in persons with obesity, this is an opportunity for healthcare providers to help their patients. Healthcare providers should counsel patients on the benefits of a plant-based diet. 

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Tags: environmental scanning, balanced scorecard, business planning, strategic management, bariatric medicine, obesity medicine, medical practice start up, bariatric industry analysis, weight loss industry analysis, prediabetes, diabetes prevention, weight management industry analysis

 

Prediabetes and Retinopathy

Retinopathy is a disease of the retina. There are various forms of the disease. For example, there is hypertensive retinopathy and there is diabetic retinopathy. Treatment and prevention of these diseases involves controlling  high blood pressure and blood glucose levels. And of course, a yearly eye exam is critically important for those persons with retinopathy. Diabetic retinopathy is the most common form of the disease. And this type of retinopathy is one of the principal causes of vision loss worldwide. At least two studies have linked prediabetes to a high level of retinopathy.

Prediabetes is where there is a higher than normal level of glucose in the blood, but the elevated level is not high enough to be deemed diabetes. For some time, it was known that prediabetes was often followed by diabetes. So, a study was designed to look into the progression from prediabetes to diabetes. The Diabetes Prevention Program trial was done between 1996 and 2001. The researchers looked at how prediabetes could lead to diabetes. It was found that prediabetes raises the risk of type 2 diabetes, and treating prediabetes could delay or prevent type 2 diabetes is many cases.

Further investigation into the incidence of retinopathy among persons with prediabetes was done after the original Diabetes Prevention Program study. The researchers looked at a subset of the participants in the original study. There were 3224 participants in the original Diabetes Prevention Program study. The subset consisted of 302 participants. The researchers "found detectable retinopathy in 7.6% of patients," who had prediabetes. So, retinopathy can be associated with prediabetes.

In another study, to determine a relationship between retinopathy and prediabetes, researchers examined articles in MEDLINE, EMBASE, PubMed, Web of Science, CINAHL, Google Scholar and the Cochrane databases. After examining 5994 abstracts and 98 full-text articles, the researchers chose twenty-four studies for their analysis. The twenty-four studies consisted of 8759 participants with prediabetes. The researchers concluded that there was a 6.6% rate of retinopathy among persons with prediabetes compared with 3.2% for populations with normal levels of blood glucose.

The above studies indicate that healthcare providers may want to examine the eyes of patients with prediabetes. The providers may detect early signs of retinopathy. And this would be beneficial to the patient and the provider.

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Tags: environmental scanning, balanced scorecard, business planning, strategic management, bariatric medicine,obesity medicine,medical practice start up,bariatric industry analysis, weight loss industry analysis, weight management industry analysis, diabetes prevention, prediabetes 

You Can Derive Health Benefits from Less Than 150 Minutes of Physical Activity Per Week

 Physical activity is essential for maintaining both physical and mental health. Regular physical activity can assist people in living a healthy and fulfilling existence. The benefits of exercise range from reducing the risk of chronic diseases to enhancing mental health. Typically, individuals are advised to engage in at least 150 minutes of physical activity per week to maintain health. However, a recent study indicates that less than half of the recommended 150 minutes of physical activity per week can have beneficial effects.

The study was done in Norway over a period of 36 years. The aim of the study was to determine how different amounts of physical activity were associated with mortality. There were approximately 123,000 participants in the study. For the study, the participants were divided into three groups. One group engaged in frequent activity, one group was completely inactive, and one group consisted of mixed participants: some participants were very active, and some were inactive. The researchers used two cut off points for measuring physical activity: One was 60 minutes per week and the other was 150 minutes per week.

The researchers concluded that as little as 60 minutes per week of physical activity provides health benefits to an individual. Indeed, there was a significant reduction in mortality for those individuals who did participate in at least 60 minutes of physical activity over the 36-month period. So, if an individual can get at least 60 minutes during the week, that activity may add years to the person’s life.

Exercise is essential for a person's health, as it can reduce the risk of chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and certain cancers. Exercise also helps to control blood sugar, lower blood pressure, and improve cholesterol levels. Physical activity can help to reduce anxiety, tension, and depression and improve a person's quality of sleep. Physical activity improves energy levels, strengthens muscles and bones, and enhances brain function by increasing blood flow to the brain. Physical activity can improve life's overall quality by improving cognitive function, memory, and focus.

If 60 minutes of physical activity per week can provide some of the benefits mentioned above, healthcare providers should let patients know that although 150 minutes of physical activity per week is recommended, a smaller amount of physical activity can increase longevity.

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Tags: environmental scanning, balanced scorecard, business planning, strategic management, bariatric medicine,obesity medicine,medical practice start up,bariatric industry analysis, weight loss industry analysis, weight management, prediabetes, industry analysis

A Plant-Based Diet Can Improve Insulin Resistance and Lipids for Obese Individuals

Plant-based diets are frequently in the news today, because the diets appear to be beneficial in combating many chronic diseases, including obesity, high blood pressure, chronic kidney disease, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease(CVD) and diabetes." And a recent study has shown that a vegan diet, which is plant-based, can improve insulin resistance as well as CVD parameters, such as blood lipids, in obese individuals. 

First of all, a plant-based diet may be anything from a semi-vegetarian diet, consisting of small portions of animal products, to a vegan diet, which excludes all animal products. And compared to diets that include animal products, plant-based diets can be significantly helpful in the treatment of CVD.

In the study mentioned above, a vegan diet was also helpful, not only in imparoving CVD parameters, but also in lowering insulin resistance. The study was a meta-analysis where the researchers selected six studies in seven datasets. And it was found that the vegan diet improved insulin resistance, total cholesterol, HDL and LDL in persons with obesity. It should be noted that in this study, a plant-based diet appeared to have no effect on triglycerides.

The benefits of a plant-based diet are also evident in persons who have an increased genetic CVD risk profile. In one study consisting of 156,148 adult subjects, who did not have CVD, investigators found that adherence to a plant-based diet slowly decreased the risk of CVD even for persons who have a high genetic risk for CVD. Indeed, investigators concluded that “adherence to healthy plant-based diets may be associated with a decreased incidence of CVD in the entire population, suggesting that plant-based diet patterns may modify the risk of CVD, regardless of genetic susceptibility.”

Since the use of a plant-based diet can improve CVD risk factors and insulin resistance in persons with obesity, this is an opportunity for healthcare providers to help their patients. Healthcare providers should counsel patients on the benefits of a plant-based diet.

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Tags: environmental scanning, balanced scorecard, business planning, strategic management, bariatric medicine, obesity medicine, medical practice start up, bariatric industry analysis, weight loss industry analysis, prediabetes, diabetes prevention, weight management industry analysis

Physical Activity Sedentary Breaks Can Lower High Blood Pressure

 Sedentary lifestyle is a term frequently used to describe a way of living in which a person participates in relatively little physical activity. And people are becoming less active everywhere in the world. People who participate in leisure activities, like using computers, watching television, or playing video games, often lead sedentary lives. Additionally, many of the duties that people perform at work are done while they are seated at a desk. One study has shown that taking activity breaks, when sedentary, is important in controlling blood pressure.

Three-hundred and thirty-one middle-aged and older adults were chosen at random and evaluated at the start and end of the 2-year study. For the study, high blood pressure, or HBP, was defined as a systolic and diastolic blood pressure of 140/90 mmHg. A questionnaire was used to measure physical activity, sedentary behavior, and sedentary breaks. Observed variables included age, gender, socioeconomic status, and body mass index. The researchers found that engaging in "continuously high sedentary breaks" can lower the risk of HBP.

Not only is HBP a problem in a sedentary lifestyle, one study concluded that a sedentary lifestyle can raise the risk of low back pain (LBP). For instance, LBP can develop if you use a computer at work for more than four hours each day. Spending more than seven hours a day sitting down may cause LBP. And playing video games for at least twelve hours each week may cause LBP.  

Some researchers discovered that older people who restrict their sedentary time and engage in more daily physical activity — of any intensity — have a lower risk of cardiovascular disease. Reduced inactivity and light exercise are associated with lower all-cause mortality. 

Since a sedentary lifestyle can lead to HBP and LBP, healthcare providers should encourage their patients to engage in activity breaks in sedentary situations. These breaks can improve health.

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Tags: environmental scanning, balanced scorecard, business planning, strategic management, bariatric industry analysis, weight loss industry analysis, weight management industry analysis, prediabetes