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Medical News Today
27-05-2025
- Health
- Medical News Today
Aging: Exercise timing, consistency can affect heart and lung fitness
Written by Corrie Pelc on May 27, 2025 — Fact checked by Amanda Ward Exercise timing and consistency can influence heart and lung fitness as we age. Image credit: Alina Rudya/. Researchers have come to have a better understanding of how the body's circadian rhythm impacts their overall health. Past studies show that disrupting the natural sleep/wake cycle can increase a person's risk for several health conditions. The circadian rhythm also defines the times a person performs activities during the day, such as when they exercise. A new study says that people who work out at the same time every day may improve their cardiovascular and lung health as they age. Over the past few years, researchers have come to have a better understanding of how the body's circadian rhythm impacts overall health. In addition to regulating when you are awake or sleeping, the circadian rhythm also defines the times you perform activities during the day such as when you go to work, when you eat different meals, and when you exercise. Now, a new study published in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports and Exercise reports that people who work out at the same time every day may improve their cardiovascular and lung health as they age. For this study, researchers recruited about 800 older adults with an average age of 76 years. Study participants were asked to wear wrist-worn accelerometers for seven days to measure their daily activity, and also underwent cardiopulmonary exercise testing to assess their heart and lung health. 'Cardiorespiratory fitness is a measure of how well your heart, lungs, and muscles work together in response to exercise,' Karyn Esser, PhD, professor and chair of the Department of Physiology and Aging in the College of Medicine at the University of Florida, senior author of this study, told Medical News Today . 'Higher values are strongly associated with longer lifespan and lower mortality risks,' Esser explained. The study also evaluated the walking efficiency of participants, which is considered another indicator of healthy aging. 'Walking efficiency provides an assessment of how efficiently the body uses energy to walk forward,' Esser noted. 'The more efficient you are, the farther you can walk. It's another measure of fitness.' At the study's conclusion, Esser and her team found that participants who had the most activity during the active part of their day relative to their daily resting time, and whose maximum daily activity happened earlier in the day, were correlated to better cardiorespiratory fitness and walking efficiency. 'We found that earlier peak activity was associated with better outcomes even when you [take] into account the amount of activity,' the researcher detailed. 'This suggests that getting moving earlier in the day could provide a health benefit. In addition, we found that the amplitude of the activity, or amount of activity during the day was healthy, this is maybe not such a surprise.' Additionally, scientists observed that better health outcomes were correlated to having a greater consistency in daily activity patterns, with the highest activity time happening at the same time every day. 'This was an interesting finding as, again, we took into account the amount of activity so this is saying that being consistent with your activity pattern is an additional parameter of your activity that likely contributes to healthy outcomes,' Esser said. To sum up, Esser said that this study finds that maintaining a daily programme of activity that includes attention to the timing and consistency of activity is important for maintaining health as we age. 'While we are living longer, in general, we are not living healthier,' she explained. 'So it is important to find ways to help people maintain or improve their health while aging, [to] improve quality of life and diminish the impact of age-related chronic diseases.' 'We suggest that the earlier time of activity and repeatability of the activity provide benefits in addition to just the activity alone,' Esser continued. 'Lastly, we propose that the timing and reproducibility of the activity are working with our intrinsic circadian clock system to maintain health.' 'We are continuing to expand our clinical study of circadian, or time of day activity behavior, with other outcomes including sleep, pain, cognition, and mental health,' she added. 'In addition, my lab has ongoing preclinical studies to determine more mechanistically how the timing of activity impacts health with aging.' MNT had the opportunity to speak with Cheng-Han Chen, MD, a board certified interventional cardiologist and medical director of the Structural Heart Program at MemorialCare Saddleback Medical Center in Laguna Hills, CA, about this study. 'This study found an association between the timing of daily physical activity and measures of cardiopulmonary fitness,' Chen commented. 'This suggests that we may eventually be able to better tailor our exercise recommendations in order to optimize the physiological benefits.' 'Getting regular exercise is an essential part of staying healthy as you get older. As our population ages, strategies to improve physical fitness may help us reduce the burden of disease in our society. More research will be needed to determine whether intentionally changing and optimizing the rhythm of daily physical activity will lead to better health outcomes.' – Cheng-Han Chen, MD Heart Disease Seniors / Aging Sports Medicine / Fitness
Medscape
19-05-2025
- Health
- Medscape
Home Mold Exposure Linked to Hypersensitivity Pneumonitis
A large case series in North Texas identified home mold as a modifiable cause of hypersensitivity pneumonitis (HP). Climate change and extreme weather patterns promoted mold growth, whereas remediation showed potential for improving outcomes. METHODOLOGY: Researchers conducted a retrospective analysis of 231 patients (mean age, 62.9 years; 40.7% men) diagnosed with HP from 2011 to 2019. The diagnosis of HP was confirmed through a combination of high-resolution CT patterns, bronchoalveolar lavage lymphocyte percentages (> 30%), transbronchial biopsy findings and surgical lung biopsy results. Investigators reviewed medical charts to confirm residential mold exposure, gathering information on exposure location, duration, and remediation efforts to better understand the patterns and effect of home mold exposure. TAKEAWAY: Home mold was identified as the triggering antigen in 54 (23.4%) patients diagnosed with HP, of whom 48 (89.9%) had fibrotic HP. Within homes, mold was most commonly found in central air conditioning units (22.2%), bedrooms (18.5%), and bathrooms (16.7%). Additionally, 33.3% of patients had molds present in multiple areas of the home. Among patients who eliminated mold exposure, 12.2% showed a greater than 10% improvement in predicted forced vital capacity (FVC%) within 3-4 months, 58.5% maintained stable lung function, and none experienced a greater than 10% decline in predicted FVC%. Transplant-free survival did not differ significantly between patients with home-related and non–home-related mold exposure. IN PRACTICE: 'The study results support that home mold may be an important and modifiable cause of HP,' the authors wrote. 'As climate change continues to disrupt weather patterns, causing storms and flooding in certain areas, clinicians should remain alert to the presence of mold and its potential contribution to development of HP.' SOURCE: Traci N. Adams, MD, with the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, was the corresponding author of the study, which was published online on May 8 in PLoS One . LIMITATIONS: The study relied on brief clinician summaries and included inconsistent home evaluations by certified specialists. Follow-up time was limited for some patients, and high-resolution CT scans were not available for some patients where improvement in FVC% was suggested. DISCLOSURES: The authors reported having no conflicts of interest.
The Sun
17-05-2025
- Health
- The Sun
I've been suffering from snoring noise on my lung since contracting Covid – can this be cured?
OUR resident specialist and NHS GP, Dr Zoe Williams, shares her expert advice. Today, Dr Zoe helps a reader developed an asthmatic type snoring noise post-Covid. 2 2 Q)I'M a very fit 79-year-old male suffering from an asthmatic type/snoring noise on my lung, which I developed post-Covid. It's more pronounced when I lie down in bed. I go abroad every year in the hope the hot weather will dry my lungs, but without success. I am not asthmatic. Can this be cured, or is it a side effect of statins which I have been taking for over two years? A: Many different types of sounds can be heard in the lungs, which suggest a change in the way that air is flowing, and different sounds give clues towards different things. A 'snoring' type sound would suggest mucus or something else is causing an obstruction. Have you had it investigated? If not, then you should, initially with an examination by your GP and a chest X-ray. Statins can cause a lung disorder called interstitial lung disease, but it's a very rare side effect and the typical symptoms are cough, shortness of breath, fatigue, or loss of appetite with weight loss. If you have any of these symptoms, it's important to let your GP know, as they can overlap with other lung diseases. As you've had it for years and describe yourself as 'very fit' it's reassuring that it's unlikely to be sinister. TIP: Do you have a burning question about weight-loss jabs, like Ozempic? Are you curious about the side effects, whether they're right for you, or how to best eat while you're on them? I'm calling on Sun readers to send me their questions for a Live Q&A on the hot topic. No question is too big, small or silly! Send your questions to me at the address below. Lots of people snore... So when is it really a concern? Dr Verena Senn, sleep expert at Emma Sleep, told The Sun when snoring could indicate sleep apnoea - a sleep condition that causes breathing to repeatedly stop and re-start when you're asleep. The main symptoms are feeling very tired, finding it hard to concentrate and having mood swings, the NHS says. Dr Senn said that sleep apnoea can often go undetected as it can happen without the patient's knowing. "Sleep partners can therefore play a crucial role in recognising this serious disease so it can be treated." You should tell your partner to visit their GP if: Their snoring is really loud They stop breathing while sleeping They wake up gasping or choking through the night They complain of sleepiness in the daytime or headaches in the morning People with obstructive sleep apnoea will often also suffer with high blood pressure. When you stop breathing during your sleep, your nervous system kicks in and releases stress hormones which may raise blood pressure over time.
