Studies

A collection of interesting scientific studies.

Training

• Using social media as a pre-workout can reduce your strength by up to 15 percent.

• Resistance training significantly improves global cognitive function, with maintenance of executive and global benefits over 18 months.

Adults who lifted heavy weights (80 percent of their max) twice per week for six months improved cognitive function more than those who spent the same amount of time doing brain training.

• Two sessions per week of resistance training was more powerful than many anti-depressant drugs at reducing depressive symptoms.

By the end of the eight-week resistance training program, 95 percent had improved so much that they no longer met the criteria for mild depression.

• 22 minutes per day of low-to-moderate intensity exercise is enough to undo the increased health risks of inactivity

Sedentary time was associated with higher mortality risk but only in individuals accumulating less than 22 min of MVPA (moderate-to-vigorous physical activity) per day. Higher MVPA levels were associated with lower mortality risk irrespective of the amount of sedentary time.

• Exercise can help you offset the mortality risks associated with sleep deprivation.

The study looked at more than 90,000 sleep-deprived adults who were sleeping less than 6 hours per night. Those who didn’t exercise had a 69 percent elevated risk of cardiovascular death.

• Full-body workouts are more effective at reducing hunger and helping you burn body fat.

Appetite is suppressed after full-body resistance exercise compared with split-body resistance exercise.

Stretching and Mobility

• Stretching between sets of your workout reduces the number of reps you can perform.

While the stretching didn’t reduce maximum strength, it did have a fatiguing effect, which reduced the total amount of volume performed in the workout.

• The effect of meditative movement on sleep quality: A systematic review

Foam rolling (or any massage) can help reduce anxiety, increase relaxation, and even potentially boost serotonin — all of which might help you fall asleep faster and experience more restorative sleep.

Nutrition

• People who eat more protein have a lower mortality rate and live longer.

• Eating more protein is likely to keep you healthier as you age.

Eating more protein throughout midlife has anti-aging benefits; even more if you don’t neglect plant-based proteins. Those who ate more plant protein were 46 percent more likely to age better.

• An increase in calories drives body fat, but increasing protein causes a boost in lean body mass but not body fat

The more protein they consumed, the more the body stored it as lean mass, not body fat. The group eating the lower amount of protein lost lean body mass. Note: The study group was small, 25 people.

• Eating more protein in the morning is linked to more significant muscle gains than eating highest protein meal at other times, such as lunch or dinner.

• Eating fewer meals per day could help you feel more alert and awake in the morning.

People who ate more often (4 to 5 times per day) had less focus and energy in the morning compared to those who ate fewer meals per day.

• The Mediterranean Diet might be healthy because of its emphasis on consuming more olive oil.

Consuming more olive oil was associated with a 15% lower risk of heart disease and a 23% lower risk of heart disease-related death.

Longevity

• Optimists live longer and are more likely to achieve exceptional longevity.

Optimistic people lived 15 percent longer and were up to 75 percent more likely to live beyond the age of 85, which is considered exceptional aging. The optimists lived longer even when accounting for age, chronic diseases, depression, and also health behaviors, such as alcohol use, exercise, diet, and primary care visits.

Links

• Protein Quality