When Science Brings Hope

There’s a lot of bad news out there at present, including in the field of healthcare. So as some measure of respite from that, here’s some good news from the world of health science, including some actionable things to do:

Run for your life! Or casually meander for your life; that’s fine too.

Those who enjoy the equivalent of an average of 160mins slow (3mph) walking per day also enjoy the greatest healthspan. Now, there may be an element of two-way causality here (moving more means we live longer, but also, sometimes people move less because of having crippling disabilities, which are themselves not great for healthspan, as well as having the knock-on effect of reducing movement, and so such conditions yield and anti-longevity double-whammy), but for any who are able to, increasing the amount of time per day spend moving, ultimately results (on average) in a lot of extra days in life that we’ll then get to spend moving.

Depending on how active or not you are already, every extra 1 hour walked could add two hours and 49 minutes to life expectancy:

Read in full: Americans over 40 could live extra 5 years if they were all as active as top 25% of population, modeling study suggests

Related: The Doctor Who Wants Us To Exercise Less & Move More

Re-teaching your brain to heal itself

Cancer is often difficult to treat, and brain tumors can be amongst the most difficult with which to contend. Not only is everything in there very delicate, but also it’s the hardest place in the body to get at—not just surgically, but even chemically, because of the blood-brain barrier. To make matters worse, brain tumors such as glioblastoma weaken the function of T-cells (whose job it is to eliminate the cancer) by prolonged exposure.

Research has found a way to restore the responsiveness of these T-cells to immune checkpoint inhibitors, allowing them to go about their cancer-killing activities unimpeded:

Read in full: New possibilities for treating intractable brain tumors unveiled

Related: 5 Ways To Beat Cancer (And Other Diseases)

Here’s to your good health!

GLP-1 receptor agonists, originally developed to fight diabetes and now enjoying popularity as weight loss adjuvants, work in large part by cutting down food cravings by interfering with the chemical messaging about such.

As a bonus, it seems that they also can reduce alcohol cravings, especially by targetting the brain’s reward center; this was based on a large review of studies looking at how GLP-1RA use affects alcohol use, alcohol-related health problems, hospital visits, and brain reactions to alcohol cues:

Read in full: Diabetes medication may be effective in helping people drink less alcohol, research finds

Related: How To Reduce Or Quit Alcohol

Take care!