Wearable Fitness Monitors Don't Motivate Exercise Says Study

Potsdam, NY, Dec. 26, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The results of a recent study on physical activity have researchers asking what in the world will it take to get people moving.

Clarkson University Associate Professor of Physical Therapy & Physician Assistant Studies Ali Boolani and Oklahoma State University Associate Professor of Physical Education Timothy Baghurst wanted to see how aspiring physical educators might change their physical activity levels when they know they're being monitored.

For this Oklahoma State University-based study, they got together a group of 36 physical education students and gave each one a monitor, telling them it would measure the amount of sunlight they received each day. Later, they gave them another monitor to count the number of steps they took each day.

The catch is both monitors actually measured how active the fitness advocates were. It turns out, the students failed to put their best foot forward. While Boolani and his fellow researchers expected the students to set a brisk pace as role models for good health, they weren't much more active than average, not-so-active citizens, even though they knew their steps were being counted.

You need to take 10,000 steps a day to equal 30 minutes of light-to-moderate physical activity a day, and you should really do an hour a day to be healthy, Boolani notes. Students in the study took 11,000 or 12,000 steps a day, which isn't much above the minimum, and their activity didn't change with the monitoring. We expected them to model good fitness, but now we wonder what we can do to get people to be more physically active!

This is a fascinating study and its implications are high for health care professionals. They should be modeling good health, he says, adding, This shows you, don't rely on an exercise monitor as your motivation.

Boolani's teaching expertise includes exercise physiology. This study is part of a series he and his colleagues are pursuing to determine ways to encourage people be more physically active, or healthier. Next up, they will be exploring activity levels among different professions and majors, in multiple sites.

There's definitely more to come from this research, he notes.

Looking for the most reliable fitness tracker? Another recent study has found that the Fitbit Zip provides the most accurate measure of steps during fast walking.

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Melissa LindellClarkson University315-268-6716mlindell@clarkson.edu

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Get a Fitness Tracker for Christmas? Why it Might Not be the Motivation You're Looking For - Yahoo Finance

The New Year is right around the corner so we went to the experts when it comes to setting goals for exercise and healthy habits.

Todd Buckingham, Ph.D., Lead Exercise Physiologist with Mary Free Bed Sports Rehabilitation joined us in studio to offer some tips for people with different levels of experience.

Beginner

Start. Thats it. The hardest part is starting so just getting out the door. It doesnt have to be on January 1st either. Today is as good a day to start as any! On average, it takes about 2 months for a habit to form, so dont get discouraged if youre not making progress or you find the going is tough to begin with. And start slow, even doing something for 10 minutes is beneficial. A review of the scientific literature recently determined that ANY amount of running is associated with a 27% lower risk of death from all causes, a 30% lower risk of cardiovascular disease, and a 23% lower risk of dying from cancer. So you dont have to jump all in on a training plan and start exercising 5 hours every week. Just 10 minutes a day has been shown to provide a host of benefits.

Intermediate

Having trouble finding motivation to exercise in the cold, dark, winter months in Michigan? Find a friend! Exercising with another person can make it more enjoyable and increase your chances of sticking with your exercise plans. And even if you cant physically exercise together, having someone who gives you the emotional support to keep exercising has been shown to be just as effective.

Advanced

If youre a serious athlete and have lofty goals, personalized training can help you optimize your performance. Not every day needs to be pushing yourself as hard as you can. In fact, most high-level athletes train too hard too often. Having specific training zones and a plan to get you closer to your goal is going to be important along the way. The more advanced you get, the harder it is to see big improvements in your time. If youre going from not exercising at all to suddenly exercising for an hour each day, youre going to see big gains in your performance. However, if youve already been training 10 hours/week and dont have any more time to devote to training, you have to get smarter about the way you train. The Performance Lab at Mary Free Bed Sports Rehabilitation can provide insights to your personal physiology and what is the best way to help you achieve your goals.

Set SMART goals. Goals should be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-oriented. Having these 5 qualities in a goal increases the likelihood of achieving said goal by 33%

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yestohealth New Year's resolutions and setting goals for exercise and healthy habits FOX 17 11:01 - WSYM-TV

Kevin Luu never envisioned 18 months of his early 20s would be spent going between the hospital and a rehabilitation centre in Sydneys north-west.

I was a full-throttle kind of guy, he told SBS News.

At the time of his accident, Kevinwas holding down two jobs as a swimming instructor and bicycle salesman and completing an internship for his exercise physiology degree.

I was always moving, always active, mentally stimulated, mentally engaged, he said.

But on Mother's Day 2013, a crash on his road bike redefined his life.

Kevin during his recovery.

Supplied

Like most people who have suffered a traumatic brain injury, Kevincannot remember the details of the accident. Instead, his friends and family helped piece together a timeline.

Despite wearing a helmet, he suffered a traumatic brain injury.

He underwent ten surgeries to relieve pressure on his brain and reconstruct his skull, but relearning to walk, talk and eat was just the start of recreating himself.

Kevin, 27, has since completed multiple marathons, finished his university studies, and hopes to land a job in the physiology field, but says it wouldn't be possible without the support ofRoyal Rehab.

For 120 years, Royal Rehab in the Sydney suburb of Ryde has provided disability and rehabilitation services to more than 61,000 Australians.

I know that [number] is a conservative estimate, Julie Pryor, Royal Rehabs director of research and innovation said.

Ms Pryor has been with the organisation since 1987 and jokes that she has done every role, including fixing taps to electrical work.

We must be doing something right, not perfect, but doing something right and we will continue to strive to do the best we possibly can.

Attitudes about disability have changed in the 120 years since Royal Rehab began.

SBS News

The organisation, with its 711 staff members, 155 volunteers, and modern accommodation and rehabilitation facilities, is a far cry from its humble beginnings as a centre set up by Susan Schardt in 1899.

Ms Schardt, who was blind from birth, opened the first space to care for people with disabilities after meeting a man without legs who destined for a life on the streets. She was filled with compassion and decided to act.

120 years ago there was no community support, Ms Pryor said.

Founder Susan Schardt is said to have been filled with compassion when she came across a man with no legs that was destined for the streets.

Supplied

There was a widely held belief that people brought disabilities upon themselves. Even if they were born with a disability, clearly had nothing to do with bringing it upon themselves, there was a sense that people were somehow responsible.

Past social attitudes towards people with disabilities are revealed in Royal Rehabs former names, The Commonwealth Home for Destitute Invalids and The New South Wales Home for Incurables.

Weve moved a long way as a society in the way we appreciate people with disabilities and the space they have in our community,'Ms Pryor said.

'But that doesnt mean we should become complacent, theres still a lot more work to do around community attitudes ... We have to continue to demystify what disability is and different forms of ability are just different forms of ability.

Kevin Luu now volunteers at Royal Rehab.

Laurie Lawira, SBS News

What has remained constant at Royal Rehab is Susan Schardts legacy. Even today, Royal Rehab remains largely funded by philanthropy and is a not-for-profit, allowing it to be innovative in its approach to services.

Ms Pryor, who leads the organisations research, says early support for people who suffer traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries allows them to see a brighter future post-accident.

The very important role we play here and we value here is helping people reshape their identity following a newly acquired disability, she said.

If you do that in the confines of a traditional clinical service that only offers traditional hospital type services then it is quite possible that someone with a newly acquired disability will shape their new identity as disabled, dependent, requiring care.

If you introduce things like early intervention vocational rehabilitation early after someones injury and you introduce sport and recreation and gardening, ordinary everyday activities, people actually then start to see the future with these sorts of possibilities in it. So they have a much wider view of what is possible and they have much more hope for the future.

Caitlin Lisle was supported by Royal Rehab after her accident.

SBS News

Caitlin Lisle broke her back in a horseriding accident in 2005, leaving her an incomplete paraplegic, with limited movement and feeling in her legs. Like many others, her understanding of disability was limited.

I never really knew anyone in a wheelchair, probably thought that was something for older people or people born with disabilities, or never thought that it was something that could happen to me, she said.

Caitlinhas very little memory of what transpired in the immediate aftermath of her accident but recalls how much an outing organised by Royal Rehab gave her some small comfort.

The fact you can get on a ferry and go and have lunch seems like such a small thing, but when youre going through that change and [thinking] 'can I ever do something so normal again?'

Since her accident, Caitlin, 32, has travelled the world, had two children and locked down a successful career.

I always wanted to be a vet, and I didnt think I would be able to do that, I always wanted a family again, I didnt really think Id be able to that. So everything I thought my 17-year-old self wanted to do, Ive been able to achieve.

Disability is part of my life but it just moulds into everything else in my life. I dont think its one concrete thing, its just like everything.

Kevin now volunteers for the organisation that put his life back on track, lending his support to those through his lived experience of brain and spinal cord injuries.

Im a big believer in doing the small things to help other people gain a sense of purpose and fulfilment in their lives, that I want to be able to help them to achieve that, he said.

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How a Sydney rehab centre helped challenge the view of what it means to be 'disabled' - SBS News

TUCSON, Ariz. The new year is around the corner and 2019 will soon be coming to a close. For the University of Arizona it was another year of being a leader in the world of science.

The first ever image of a black hole may have been the biggest headline of the year, but UArizona has been contributing to science for over a century.

The University of Arizona has been an absolute leader in arid lands study for decades, said Desert Laboratory Director Ben Wilder.

The Desert Laboratory on Tumamoc Hill established in the early 1900s gave birth to the sciences of plant physiology, ecology and arid land studies.

The plots that they established continue to be monitored today by U of A scientists and that is a 115 year span of time, so it is longest continuously monitored vegetation plot in the world.

Scientific achievements can be found across many disciplines.

The University of Arizona helped pave the way to a new thinking or new approach to manage chronic pain, said Associate Professor Mohab Ibrahim.

The University of Arizona helped develop compression only CPR, guided men on the moon, constructed the biosphere 2, and worked in an international effort to get that image of a black hole.

This is the first time ever we managed to take a picture of a black hole with a resolution that allowed us to see the point of no return where even light cannot escape from it, said Professor of Astronomy and Physics Dr. Dimitrios Psaltis.

Psaltis says the school is one of the most critical universities in the world of astrophysics.

This is the place where the first simulations of formation and structure of galaxies has happened, this is the place where the first simulations of supernova explosions have happened.

The scientists and researchers we talked to say the University of Arizona has had an impressive track record in science. And they say the accomplishments of the past will be a foundation for new discoveries in the future.

The extremes are getting more extreme, global weirding, so that baseline that we have of data on Tumamoc Hill is the best baseline the best data set for any arid region in the world, said Wilder.

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Local News Looking back on the University of Arizona's contributions to science Brian Brennan 6:11 - KGUN

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The "Maternity and Women's Health Care. Edition No. 12" book has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

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Maternity and Women's Health Care - 12th Edition - ResearchAndMarkets.com - Business Wire

UTICA The United Way of the Valley and Greater Utica announced it has appointed Ross Bernston and Jennifer Adjodha-Evans to its board of directors.

Bernston is president and chief operating officer at Indium Corporation and has been with the company since 1996. Most recently, he lived in Singapore for two years, learning much about the daily activities in Southeast Asia and China while serving as executive VP and president of Indiums Asia holdings. Bernston is a graduate of Cornell University with an MBA and a bachelors degree in chemistry.

Adjodha-Evans is an assistant professor of anatomy and physiology at Herkimer County Community College and an adjust instructor of human anatomy and physiology at SUNY Polytechnic Institute. She serves on the Community and Behavioral Health Advisory Board at SUNY Poly and is president of the Adventist International Medical Missionaries. Adiodha-Evans received a Ph.D. in biology from the CUNY Graduate Center.

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United Way appoints two new members to its board - The Central New York Business Journal

Bowling a cricket ball fast is essentially an exercise in contorting the human body into an unnatural and often painful shape, then delivering the ball with enough pace, accuracy and movement to try and get the batsman out. In Test cricket history, no pace bowler has undergone this task more than James Anderson. He has already delivered 32,359 balls, a number that will mushroom further from Boxing Day.

In Centurion, Anderson will become the ninth cricketer to play 150 Test matches. It is, most obviously, a testament to his multifarious skills. But it is, too, a testament to how Anderson, and England, have managed his body. In some ways this is the most remarkable part of Andersons career: simply...

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The technique, physiology and painkillers behind James Anderson's longevity as 150th Test looms - The Telegraph

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--PM360, a leading trade magazine for marketing decision makers in the pharmaceutical, biotech, medical device, and diagnostics industries, has named physIQ as one of the most innovative Companies of 2019.

PhysIQs mission is to deliver on the promise of scalable personalized medicine by applying artificial intelligence to data collected from any wearable biosensor and transforming it into personalized insight. The physIQ solution provides clinicians with tools to proactively engage at-risk patients, as well as provide pharmaceutical companies with powerful data-driven support to demonstrate the efficacy of their products.

Using an AI-based approach to personalized physiology analytics, physIQ has been clinically validated, with multiple market-leading 510(k) clearances that include respiration rate, QRS detection, heart rate, heart rate variability, atrial fibrillation detection, and our personalized physiology change detection analytic.

Previously, physicians and clinical trial sponsors were limited in monitoring ambulatory patients with noisy and very sporadic point-measurement data. PhysIQ enables them to collect high quality continuous data to gain better insights and make better decisions for their patients, said physIQs CEO Gary Conkright. With physIQ, pharmaceutical companies will now have greater clarity on the impact clinical trials have on patients, allowing for new life saving therapies to reach the market faster. As a result, physicians will have a better chance to care for their patients in their own homes at the lowest possible cost while delivering the highest quality of life.

PhysIQ was selected as part of PM360s 8th Annual Innovations Issue published each December. This issue was established to serve as a guide to the years most innovative Companies, Startups, Divisions, Products, Services, and Strategies from within the healthcare and life sciences industries. This comprehensive overview of the years most innovative achievements in these six categories helps other companies in the industry to find potential partners and offerings that can help them advance healthcare and life sciences.

For the past eight years, we have worked to help the industry identify the latest and most exciting advancements that facilitate change in the industry, how it operates, or offer new advancements that better serve patients, doctors, payers, and others involved, says Anna Stashower, CEO/Publisher of PM360. We hope this guide can serve as an important resource for the industry throughout 2020 as we all work to improve the healthcare experience for everyone involved.

PM360 received hundreds of submissions from across the healthcare and life sciences industries. The editorial staff of PM360 evaluated each submission and selected their picks for the most innovative, regardless of category. Ultimately, 60 total innovations were featured in the issue. Within the Company category, a total of 12 companies were featured.

All of this years selections can be found at: http://www.pm360online.com/pm360-presents-the-2019-innovators.

About physIQ

PhysIQ is a company dedicated to enabling proactive care delivery models through pinpointIQ, its highly scalable cloud-based platform for personalized physiology analytics. Our FDA 510(k)-cleared data analytics platform is designed to process multiple vital signs from wearable sensors to create a personalized dynamic baseline for each individual. By mapping vital sign relationships this way, physIQs analytics detect subtle deviations that may be a precursor to disease exacerbation or change in health. With applications in both healthcare and clinical trial support, physIQ is transforming continuous physiological data into insight for providers, health systems, payers and pharmaceutical and medical device companies. For more information, please visit http://www.physIQ.com. Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

About PM360

PM360 is the premier, must-read magazine for marketing decision makers in the pharmaceutical, biotech, medical device, and diagnostics industries. Published monthly, PM360 is the only journal that focuses on delivering the full spectrum of practical information necessary for product managers and pharmaceutical marketing professionals to succeed in the complex and highly regulated healthcare environment.

The journals targeted and insightful editorial focuses on issues that directly impact critical decision making, including: Planning and implementation of cutting-edge strategies, trends, the latest technological advances, branding/marketing, advertising/promotion, patient/professional education, sales, market research, PR, and leadership. Additionally, the 360 in the title signifies the span of this critical, how-to info with personal and career insights for an enjoyable and thought-provoking read.

By providing the full circle of enriching content, PM360 is truly an indispensable tool for busy and productive marketing professionals to stay at the top of their game.

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PhysIQ Named One of the Most Innovative Companies of 2019 by PM360 - Business Wire

Ivan Pavlov might be Russias most famous scientist, but for most foreigners he lives in the shadow of his famous experiments with dogs. But who was Pavlov, and what else did he contribute to the history of science?

Im told that the denizens of Koltushi, nestled just twenty kilometers outside St. Petersburg, are little aware of who planted the trees in the towns beloved park. Im there on a Saturday, and many are taking a stroll with family or friends. My guide, Irina Aktuganova, continues that not many would know that the wooden buildings scattered through the greenery form part of the regions UNESCO-protected heritage, an extended monument to Russias most famous scientist and first Nobel Laureate: Ivan Petrovich Pavlov.

When foreigners think of Ivan Pavlov, theyre more likely to think of his experiments with dogs than the parks he cultivated. In fact, they might not even think about the man at all a strange fate for a scientist whose name appears in high school textbooks the world over. Little is mentioned of the pond where the aging researcher would swim every morning, or the banya where hed invite guests for a good sweat, or about the beloved bicycle he bought in Sweden before Lenins revolution. Or how he survived the revolution, for that matter.

Ivan Pavlov (second right) in his laboratory. Leningrad, 1927

I had no idea before coming to Koltushi that the same hands that rang bells for dogs also cultivated whole orchards of apple trees, or that young chimpanzees used to clamor here between the trees and busts of scientists like Decartes, Mendel or Sechenov. Aktuganova, the curator of a new permanent exhibition of art and science located in the basement of Pavlovs historical lab, shares that it was the scientist himself who developed this land from a loose hamlet, once inhabited by the Finnish diaspora, into the countrys first official academic village.

Born in 1849 in what was still the Russian Empire, Pavlov was the eldest of eleven children raised by a Russian orthodox priest and his wife. Due to an early injury as a child, he was unable to start school until he was eleven years old. Despite this, he showed a high degree of intelligence and academic potential he was reading independently by the age of seven, and after switching from theology to physiology (moving his studies from Ryazan to St. Petersburg in order to do so) he won prestigious awards while still an undergraduate.

House-museum of academician Ivan Pavlov in the city of Ryazan where he was born

His greatest award, though, was yet to come. After leaving for a stint in Germany to receive his doctorate, he returned to St. Petersburg and was eventually invited to organize the Department of Physiology at the Institute of Experimental Medicine there in 1891, which he would go on to transform into a global center for physiological research. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine every year after 1901 until winning it in 1904, not for his work with dogs, but in recognition of his work on the physiology of digestion, through which knowledge on vital aspects of the subject has been transformed and enlarged.

It was on this base, however, that his most famous experiment would be made possible.

The conditioned reflexes Pavlov is known for refers to how any organism with a sufficiently developed nervous system can develop special reflexes in response to its environment. To discover this, Pavlov designed soundproof chambers for the dogs to be kept in, where the only stimulus would be some food or the sound of a bell. The bell would be rung before the dog was given meat, and so the animals eventually learned to associate the bell with being fed. Using his experience with the digestive system, Pavlov was able to measure the dogs saliva levels to confirm that, yes, their glands would eventually produce saliva in response to the bell instead of to the sight or smell of food.

Ivan Pavlov watching an experiment with a dog, summer 1934

It was this discovery that led to his becoming a household name. Curiosity, combined with the mystery associated with his experiments, led to his laboratory complex being named the Tower of Silence. It was located in the center of the old imperial capital, on Petrogradsky island, but the forces of history wouldnt necessarily give Pavlov the silence he was looking for. The outbreak of World War I, and the revolution that followed, turned the city into a chaotic scene of disorder and violence.

Russias first scientific village

While Pavlov was open in his criticism of Soviet ideology, his work earned him the respect of none other than Vladimir Lenin. He couldnt work in disorder, Aktuganova tells me, and so, Pavlov wrote Lenin a letter that said give me a place to work in peace, or Ill emigrate. The plan worked, and the scientist received approximately one million rubles worth of gold to relocate his laboratory. With it he chose Koltushi.

He built a complex for experimental medicine and surrounded it with what became Russias first scientific village. This included his lab, a house (that he rarely used), a complex that included a hotel, cafeteria and club, five cottages for workers and, of course, kennels for the dogs, chimpanzees and other animals he worked with. This formed the core of a set of buildings that eventually expanded with the years, until it became a functional suburb of the ever-growing Leningrad (known now as St. Petersburg).

To look at the place now, Aktuganova tells me, you wouldnt think that a world-famous figure used to live here. With the UNESCO status, there should be more tourists and more infrastructure to support them [visiting].

But remembering Pavlov and his contributions wasnt on the highest list of national priorities after his death from pneumonia in 1936, support for the village continued until perestroika in the 1980s. A greater focus was then given to the humanities, which had faced various pressures over the past half century, and money typically invested in the hard sciences was redirected.

Ivan Pavlov in Koltushi, Leningrad Region

That said, a museum still exists here that tells of how Pavlov lived out the last years of his life. There are pictures of him with his wife Serafima, or Sara for short, and their children (two of which sadly died while Pavlov was still alive). Alongside them are photos of international visitors like Niels Bohr and H.G. Wells. Photos with famous local artists, like Ilya Repin, can also be found, confirming the age Pavlov lived in, as a time when art and science were not necessarily competitors. The permanent exhibition in the basement, a collaboration between young artists and scientists, seeks to revitalize this tradition.

Monument to Pavlov and his dog in Koltushi

Asteroids, lunar craters and scientific principles have since been named after him, but its become all too easy to hear about Pavlov without knowing anything about the man himself. That said, these buildings, much like his famous dogs, stand as a legacy that wont soon be forgotten. What remains is a testament to a remarkable scientist who changed the way we think about our behavior, our desires and the other secrets still locked inside our brains.

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By Michael Le Page

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An ideal pesticide would kill only pests, leaving all other creatures unharmed. Now biologists have engineered potatoes to be lethal to a major pest called the Colorado potato beetle but harmless to other species, no pesticide required.

Ralph Bock of the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology in Germany has genetically modified potatoes to produce RNA molecules that, when eaten, shut down an important gene in the beetle. The approach is based on a technique known as gene silencing or RNA interference.

Currently theres a lot of excitement

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Potatoes engineered to harm a major pest but leave other insects safe - New Scientist