Expresso Health Updates Of The Week

Dr Ashish Singhal, consultant orthopaedic and knee replacement, Paras Hospital, Udaipur said
“The ice bath is known to help reduce muscle pain by approximately 20 per cent. The most obvious benefit of ice baths is that they simply make the body feel good. After a strenuous workout, cold immersion can provide relief to sore, burning muscles. Ice baths alter the flow of blood and other bodily fluids which, in turn, reduce inflammation and speed up recovery. Your blood vessels contract when you sit in cold water; they dilate when you get out.” "
"Polycystic Ovary Syndrome is a common condition, which entails irregular, scanty or non-existent periods and excessive amounts of ‘masculine’ hormones, and hirsutism, resulting in excessive hair growth or increased testosterone.

According to an integrative nutritionist and health coach Neha Ranglani, excessive weight can worsen PCOS, as it increases insulin in the body which results in increased production of androgen, mostly testosterone, which can lead to increased facial hair and acne.

She explained, “Keeping your weight in control can decrease testosterone levels, increase ovulation frequency, and boost fertility,” adding that PCOS also increases the risk of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases due to insulin resistance and high cholesterol levels.
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"It is well known that aerobic exercise, such as running and cycling, can help you live longer, but less has been known about the effect of lifting weights on longevity.

A study, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, aimed to find out if lifting weights was linked to a lower risk of death from any cause, either on its own or alongside moderate to vigorous exercise.

The researchers, led by a team from the National Cancer Institute in Rockville, Maryland, analysed data on just under 100,000 men and women from ten cancer centres in the US. The participants had an average age of 71 and an average body-mass index of 27.8 (overweight). They followed the group for just shy of a decade, "
"Meanwhile,

Many of us buy packaged drinking water without ever giving it a second thought. But it may not be the wisest choice according to a study by the Harvard School of Public Health, it was noticed that in participants who consumed water from polycarbonate bottles, the urinary concentrations of the chemical bisphenol A used to produce polycarbonate plastics, were significantly higher. The study further noted that hot liquids would cause this effect to be even bigger.

The Harvard School of Public Health said, “Exposure to BPA before birth is linked to behavioural and emotional difficulties in young girls. People with high urine levels of BPA are also more likely to have heart disease or diabetes,” "
"Feeling ‘uneasy’ can manifest in four ways, namely cardiac causes or heart-related, non-cardiac causes, possibly due to pneumonia or pulmonary embolism, superficial causes, and psychological causes like anxiety or depression

Dr Abhishek Shrinivas Joshi, cardiac surgeon, Arihant Hospital, Unit of Dixit Healthcare, Belgaum said, “Uneasiness is usually a result of heart palpitations along with anxiety. Palpitation is the abnormal sensations of one’s heartbeat, which can also be termed increased heart rate. But decreased heart rate can also cause palpitations. A healthy individual may also experience palpitations after exercising, indulging in a new activity, consuming excess coffee, lack of iron in the body, some medications, cigarette smoking, and even thyroid medications,”"
"With more of us living into old age than at any other time, dementia is increasing steadily worldwide, with major individual, family, societal and economic consequences.

Treatment remains largely ineffective and aspects of the underlying pathophysiology are still unclear. But there is good evidence that neurodegenerative diseases, and their manifestation as dementia, are not an inevitable consequence of ageing.

More than 150,000 people with COVID and 11 million controls have been involved in a study of the long-term consequences of acute COVID infection. A year after infection, there was an overall 40% higher risk (an additional 71 cases per 1000 people) of neurologic disorders, including memory problems and Alzheimer’s disease. These risks were elevated even among those not hospitalised for acute COVID."
"Eisai Co. and partner Biogen Inc. said their drug significantly slowed Alzheimer’s disease, making it the first medicine to blunt progression of the most common dementia in a definitive, large-scale trial.

Lecanemab reduced the pace of cognitive decline in people with early disease by 27% over 18 months when compared with a placebo, meeting the main goal of the trial, the companies said in a statement. The benefit came with side effects, including brain swelling and bleeding, though severe cases were rare.

The result marks a major milestone for researchers who have been trying in vain for decades to stop the inexorable decline tied to the disease. How much of a difference it will make for patients and families is less clear"
"Lastly,

Nearly four months after the first report of monkeypox in the United States, the virus is showing promising signs of retreat, easing fears that it may spill over into populations of older adults, pregnant women and young children.

Supplies of the vaccine have improved, and federal health officials have begun clinical trials to gain a better understanding of who benefits, and how much, from both the vaccine and the drug used.

However, a single dose of the vaccine, Jynneos, may not be protective enough, raising fresh concerns about the Biden administration’s plan to distribute fractional doses.

And federal health officials have warned that the virus could become resistant to tecovirimat, the only safe treatment for those who are infected."

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