Latest news with #UniversityofSouthAustralia
Sky News AU
6 days ago
- Health
- Sky News AU
Fears over new highly contagious Covid-19 strain surging as states records increase in infections
Health experts have urged people to keep up to date with their Covid-19 vaccinations amid fears of a dangerous new strain as reported cases surge. Omicron strain subvariant NB. 1.8.1 is already rising in Queensland, which has seen a sudden spike in the number of people infected with Covid-19. A report by Queensland Health said 671 people in the state were diagnosed with the disease in the week ending May 25, which was an 18 per cent increase from the week prior. There had been 15,693 notified cases of Covid-19 in the state since the beginning of this year according to the report, meaning an average of over 100 new cases per day. There were 54 people in hospital with the disease in Queensland as of Sunday, and the health authority reported 3,388 hospitalised cases between January 1 and May 25. University of South Australia biostatistics and epidemiology professor Adrian Esterman said the new strain was behind the rise in cases being observed. 'In the last four weeks, cases have gone up each week, and that is most certainly due to this new strain,' Mr Esterman told the Courier Mail. 'We have to be concerned about older people and those with impaired immune systems or other health conditions, they need to be keeping up to date with booster shots.' AMA Queensland president Dr Nick Yim told the masthead evidence indicates the NB. 1.8.1 variant could potentially spread easier than previous strains. 'The emergence of NB. 1.8.1 is a timely reminder that Covid-19 is still circulating in our community and continues to evolve,' Dr Yim said. With winter on the way and Covid-19 cases increasing, he urged people to 'protect yourself and those around you'. 'We are worried that some complacency has set in and urge all eligible Queenslanders to get their free booster as soon as possible,' Dr Yim said. In New South Wales, Covid-19 increased to a 'moderate level of activity' last week and NSW Health outlined that vaccinations are 'especially important' at the moment. NSW emergency department visits and admissions for people with Covid-19 have been increasing over the last three weeks, with a report published on Thursday said. In the week ending May 24, the state has seen an increase of 29.2 per cent in notified Covid-19 cases and the rate of positive test results spike to 6.7 per cent. In Victoria, the Department of Health's latest respiratory surveillance report said though Covid-19 activity had remained low, the state had seen a 43.8 per cent Covid-19 notifications in the second week of May.
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Just 5 minutes a day of these exercises can sharpen your brain as you age
Exercise has long been linked with stronger brains and reduced risk of dementia and other cognitive diseases. But new research suggests that older adults can significantly improve brain health with only a few minutes of daily movement. Researchers from the University of South Australia and the U.S.-based AdventHealth Research Institute found that as few as five minutes of moderate-to-vigorous exercise a day correlated to significantly better cognitive performance. The study, published in the British journal Age & Ageing in early April, examined data from hundreds of people 65 to 80 years old. Researchers found that "huff-and-puff" movements, like running or lap swimming, were associated with better brain functions including information processing, focusing and multitasking and short-term memory. They also found that even a few minutes of moderate exercise like walking improves brain functions. 'Our key finding was that moving from doing zero minutes or very little moderate-to-vigorous physical activity to doing just five minutes a day — that's where the biggest gain in cognitive function was seen,' said the study's lead author, Maddison Mellow, a research associate at the University of South Australia. The researchers distinguished between moderate and vigorous exercise by applying a simple test: whether subjects could still manage to speak full sentences after moving around. Vigorous exercise makes that impossible, said Audrey Collins, a postdoctoral research scientist at AdventHealth Research Institute and the paper's co-lead author. The study observed 585 people, all in good health. Their physical activity was measured using accelerometers they wore on their wrists; the researchers tested cognitive functions using online and paper-based tests. Worth noting: This study also found a 'strong relationship' between spending little to no time doing moderate to vigorous activity and poorer cognitive performance, Mellow said. One slightly surprising finding, she added, was that the cognitive performance gains from exercise don't extend to longer-term memory and visual-spatial functions like judging distances or sizes. The study was novel in that it categorized how people divided their days into three behaviors: sleep, sedentary and active. And though getting enough quality sleep is important to brain health in midlife and beyond, the researchers said that when forced to choose between minutes spent sleeping and minutes spent exercising, reducing sleep time to spend more time moving resulted in better brain function. 'It didn't really matter, in this sample, where time was coming from, whether from sleep, sedentary behavior or light intensity physical activity,' Mellow said. 'So long as time was being increased in moderate vigorous activity, that's where the benefits were being shown for cognitive outcomes.' With that in mind, what are some moderate or vigorous bursts of exercise for older adults to do every day? We consulted experts to give you five accessible options. Two experts I spoke with each said the easiest way to clock those five daily minutes for brain health is by walking. 'Walking is No. 1, because that's the easiest,' said E. Todd Schroeder, professor of clinical physical therapy and the director of the Clinical Exercise Research Center at USC. Very sedentary older adults may want to start with simple flat-ground walking at their normal pace, Schroeder says. If you're already a steady, regular walker, kick up the pace to elevate your heart rate into that all-important moderate category. 'A brisk walk is considered to be moderate activity,' said Rob Musci, an assistant professor of health and human sciences at Loyola Marymount University. On a scale of 1 to 10, moderate exercise is what you would consider being in the 4 to 6 range, Musci said. To achieve a real huff-and-puff workout, walking or hiking briskly uphill is excellent, Schroeder said, because it also necessarily requires walking back down hill. 'That interval-type training is good,' he said, 'where your heart rate goes up for a time then comes back down.' Swimming is a terrific way to get a full-body workout and raise your heart rate. 'It's easy on the joints,' Shroeder said. 'Even if you struggle with the technique of swimming, you can put on fins and get some at least moderate exercise.' Cycling can be on a stationary bike or an outdoor bike, many of which are now battery-assisted, making pedaling up hills almost too easy. One reason I like old-fashioned outdoor bikes, sans batteries, is that they also train balance and require your brain to keep you safe. Lifting weights is one of the best ways to maintain muscle strength as we age, Musci said. Try these simple exercises you can easily do at home in fewer than three minutes. They include: Tossing a weighted ball from one hand to another (try it standing on one leg) Squats holding a kettlebell, dumbbell, a bag of oranges or nothing at all Weighted chest presses in boat pose Gardening can be a great way to engage core muscles, encourage flexibility and practice fine motor skills. Even basic house cleaning, like scrubbing a bathtub or mopping a floor, can qualify as moderate exercise. 'Anything that gets your heart going is what we're looking for,' Musci said. 'You hear about all these high-end interventions, fitness programs and boot camps, but in reality, it's just movement.' The most important thing, he said, is 'just getting off the couch.' Von Zielbauer is the creator of Aging With Strength on Substack. Sign up for The Wild newsletter to get weekly insider tips on the best of our beaches, trails, parks, deserts, forests and mountains. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
19-05-2025
- Health
- Los Angeles Times
Just 5 minutes a day of these exercises can sharpen your brain as you age
Exercise has long been linked with stronger brains and reduced risk of dementia and other cognitive diseases. But new research suggests that older adults can significantly improve brain health with only a few minutes of daily movement. Researchers from the University of South Australia and the U.S.-based AdventHealth Research Institute found that as few as five minutes of moderate-to-vigorous exercise a day correlated to significantly better cognitive performance. The study, published in the British journal Age & Ageing in early April, examined data from hundreds of people 65 to 80 years old. Researchers found that 'huff-and-puff' movements, like running or lap swimming, were associated with better brain functions including information processing, focusing and multitasking and short-term memory. They also found that even a few minutes of moderate exercise like walking improves brain functions. 'Our key finding was that moving from doing zero minutes or very little moderate-to-vigorous physical activity to doing just five minutes a day — that's where the biggest gain in cognitive function was seen,' said the study's lead author, Maddison Mellow, a research associate at the University of South Australia. The researchers distinguished between moderate and vigorous exercise by applying a simple test: whether subjects could still manage to speak full sentences after moving around. Vigorous exercise makes that impossible, said Audrey Collins, a postdoctoral research scientist at AdventHealth Research Institute and the paper's co-lead author. The study observed 585 people, all in good health. Their physical activity was measured using accelerometers they wore on their wrists; the researchers tested cognitive functions using online and paper-based tests. Worth noting: This study also found a 'strong relationship' between spending little to no time doing moderate to vigorous activity and poorer cognitive performance, Mellow said. One slightly surprising finding, she added, was that the cognitive performance gains from exercise don't extend to longer-term memory and visual-spatial functions like judging distances or sizes. The study was novel in that it categorized how people divided their days into three behaviors: sleep, sedentary and active. And though getting enough quality sleep is important to brain health in midlife and beyond, the researchers said that when forced to choose between minutes spent sleeping and minutes spent exercising, reducing sleep time to spend more time moving resulted in better brain function. 'It didn't really matter, in this sample, where time was coming from, whether from sleep, sedentary behavior or light intensity physical activity,' Mellow said. 'So long as time was being increased in moderate vigorous activity, that's where the benefits were being shown for cognitive outcomes.' With that in mind, what are some moderate or vigorous bursts of exercise for older adults to do every day? We consulted experts to give you five accessible options. Two experts I spoke with each said the easiest way to clock those five daily minutes for brain health is by walking. 'Walking is No. 1, because that's the easiest,' said E. Todd Schroeder, professor of clinical physical therapy and the director of the Clinical Exercise Research Center at USC. Very sedentary older adults may want to start with simple flat-ground walking at their normal pace, Schroeder says. If you're already a steady, regular walker, kick up the pace to elevate your heart rate into that all-important moderate category. 'A brisk walk is considered to be moderate activity,' said Rob Musci, an assistant professor of health and human sciences at Loyola Marymount University. On a scale of 1 to 10, moderate exercise is what you would consider being in the 4 to 6 range, Musci said. To achieve a real huff-and-puff workout, walking or hiking briskly uphill is excellent, Schroeder said, because it also necessarily requires walking back down hill. 'That interval-type training is good,' he said, 'where your heart rate goes up for a time then comes back down.' Swimming is a terrific way to get a full-body workout and raise your heart rate. 'It's easy on the joints,' Shroeder said. 'Even if you struggle with the technique of swimming, you can put on fins and get some at least moderate exercise.' Cycling can be on a stationary bike or an outdoor bike, many of which are now battery-assisted, making pedaling up hills almost too easy. One reason I like old-fashioned outdoor bikes, sans batteries, is that they also train balance and require your brain to keep you safe. Lifting weights is one of the best ways to maintain muscle strength as we age, Musci said. Try these simple exercises you can easily do at home in fewer than three minutes. They include: Gardening can be a great way to engage core muscles, encourage flexibility and practice fine motor skills. Even basic house cleaning, like scrubbing a bathtub or mopping a floor, can qualify as moderate exercise. 'Anything that gets your heart going is what we're looking for,' Musci said. 'You hear about all these high-end interventions, fitness programs and boot camps, but in reality, it's just movement.' The most important thing, he said, is 'just getting off the couch.' Von Zielbauer is the creator of Aging With Strength on Substack.
Sydney Morning Herald
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘Every empty seat is a missed opportunity': QPAC's new boss brings back kids' festival Out of the Box
Rachel Healy has strong views on the role of theatre on impressionable young minds. At the age of eight she was taken by her parents to see the musical Annie at the Adelaide Festival Centre. Her mind was blown. 'I wanted to be on stage with those orphans,' she admits. Healy's first job out of the University of South Australia was assistant editor at youth arts magazine Lowdown, where one of her earliest topics was QPAC's brand new biennial children's festival, Out of the Box. Some 33 years later, Healy is now QPAC's chief executive, and one of her tasks has been bringing back Out of the Box after a seven-year hiatus. 'It probably should have come back in '23 or '24, but every organisation was rebuilding after COVID, including QPAC,' Healy says. Out of the Box is a six-day event (Tuesday to Sunday, June 17-22) showcasing seven mainstage shows for kids, plus over a dozen workshops and activities, held in QPAC's theatres, event spaces, and at the State Library and QAGOMA. Shows include adaptations of kids' books The Gruffalo and Gurril Storm Bird, while workshops cover mindfulness, dance, a Bluey Puppetry Workshop and a cooking workshop in the kitchens of QPAC's fancy restaurant, Lyrebird.
The Age
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
‘Every empty seat is a missed opportunity': QPAC's new boss brings back kids' festival Out of the Box
Rachel Healy has strong views on the role of theatre on impressionable young minds. At the age of eight she was taken by her parents to see the musical Annie at the Adelaide Festival Centre. Her mind was blown. 'I wanted to be on stage with those orphans,' she admits. Healy's first job out of the University of South Australia was assistant editor at youth arts magazine Lowdown, where one of her earliest topics was QPAC's brand new biennial children's festival, Out of the Box. Some 33 years later, Healy is now QPAC's chief executive, and one of her tasks has been bringing back Out of the Box after a seven-year hiatus. 'It probably should have come back in '23 or '24, but every organisation was rebuilding after COVID, including QPAC,' Healy says. Out of the Box is a six-day event (Tuesday to Sunday, June 17-22) showcasing seven mainstage shows for kids, plus over a dozen workshops and activities, held in QPAC's theatres, event spaces, and at the State Library and QAGOMA. Shows include adaptations of kids' books The Gruffalo and Gurril Storm Bird, while workshops cover mindfulness, dance, a Bluey Puppetry Workshop and a cooking workshop in the kitchens of QPAC's fancy restaurant, Lyrebird.
