Running and jogging can extend your life

If you have trouble getting motivated to be active every day, there's now even more evidence that just a small amount of daily exercise can help extend your life.  Research from the Copenhagen City Heart Study (CCHS) -- begun in 1976 -- found that jogging between one and two and a half hours per week helped both men and women live longer.  The greatest benefits came from jogging at a slow or average pace.

Peter Schnohr, chief cardiologist of the CCHS, said in a statement, "We can say with certainty that regular jogging increases longevity.  The good news is that you don't actually need to do that much to reap the benefits."

About 2,000 male and female joggers were questioned about their running habits, such as how much they exercised, and how intensely.  During the follow-up period the men who jogged gained an average of 6.2 years of life, while the women joggers gained 5.6 years.

The findings were presented at a European Association for Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation meeting in Dublin, Ireland.

The Copenhagen City Heart Study began tracking almost 20,000 men and women between the ages of 20 and 93 back in 1976.  Research findings from this prospective study include a 2006 paper on the longevity gains of 5-7 years thanks to moderate and high-intensity physical activity.  The longevity boost in that research was strongest against cardiovascular disease and cancers.

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_Source:

_{Schnohr P, Lange P, Scharling H, Jensen JS.  "Long-term physical activity in leisure time and mortality from coronary heart disease, stroke, respiratory diseases, and cancer. The Copenhagen City Heart Study."  Eur J Cardiovasc Prev Rehabil. 2006 Apr;13(2):173-9.}

Finally - some sunny and warm weather for those of us who've been buried under winter clothing for the last several months.  Along with the warming trend, much good - a chance to bare your arms and let your skin make some Vitamin D - helping you to ward off a range of health threats.  On the negative side, the sun causes photoaging, one of the major drivers of skin aging.  Not only does the sun accelerate the formation of wrinkles that naturally occur in skin over time, but it wreaks its own havoc on the skin's structure, affecting its thickness and texture.   Make sure you apply a high-SPF sunscreen after fifteen or so minutes in the sun!

Learn how Vitamin A can reverse photoaging

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New guidelines for doctors have been issued by the American Geriatrics Society, in an effort to reduce the number of medications inappropriately prescribed for seniors.  Published in the society's monthly journal, the paper outlines the dangers associated with "potentially inappropriate medications", citing the national cost of medication-related problems in 2000-2001 as $7.2 billion.  Many of the adverse drug  problems were preventable, and associated with ordering and monitoring of the medications, according to the paper.

Seniors tend to take multiple prescriptions, leaving them more vulnerable to interactions between medications.  In addition, their aging physiology affects how the drugs work in their bodies.

In many cases, the guidelines strongly recommend a medication not be prescribed.  For example, oral and transdermal estrogen for urinary incontinence in women is strongly recommended against, because research evidence strongly suggests it aggravates incontinence.  The guidelines suggests many other medications, including certain antipsychotics, should be avoided in seniors.

The guidelines, called the "2012 AGS Beers Criteria", were developed by an interdisciplinary panel of 11 geriatric and pharmacotherapy experts.  They offer guidance for doctors weighing the risks and benefits of specific drugs in their older patients.

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_Source:

_{Barbara Resnick and James Pacala.  "2012 Beers Criteria."  Journal of the American Geriatrics Society
April 2012.  Volume 60, Issue 4, pages 612-613
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/store/10.1111/j.1532-5415.2012.03921.x/asset/jgs3921.pdf?v=1&t=h1fe877q&s=fbf12d2a34a3e13213cdc6c494856e535294ca54}

_{The American Geriatrics Society 2012 Beers Criteria Update Expert Panel. AGS updated Beers Criteria for potentially inappropriate medication use in older adults. J Am Geriatr Soc 2012;60:616-631.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1532-5415.2012.03923.x/full}

David Rosenberg / Getty Images

For years, it's been suggested that periodontal, or gum disease, could cause heart problems, and that dental hygiene might prevent cardiovascular disease.   New research published online this week in the American Heart Association journal Circulation debunks that theory.

The review, involving more than 500 peer-reviewed studies published between 1950 and 2011, was led by a cardiologist and a dentist.  It concluded that while many patients with heart problems also suffer from gum disease, and both conditions share many risk factors like age and smoking, there's no evidence that poor oral health causes atherosclerosis.

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Keep Your Teeth White and Looking Younger

_Source:

_{Peter B. Lockhart et al.  "Periodontal Disease and Atherosclerotic Vascular Disease: Does the Evidence Support an Independent Association?" Circulation 2012;125.  doi: 10.1161/​CIR.0b013e31825719f3 http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/early/2012/04/18/CIR.0b013e31825719f3.full.pdf}