UF Health Podcasts

Ask the family doctor if you’ll live longer by exercising and expect a quick answer: Of course. That’s a no-brainer well established by medical science.

Ask exactly how much longer and the physician will probably offer up a blank stare. After all, we don’t have an expiration date stamped on our foreheads like a carton of milk in the fridge.

New research, however, is beginning to offer surprisingly precise estimates to just that question. How about six hours of additional life for each extra hour walked for the most inactive among us?

That is according to a study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. Scientists used a predictive model to estimate life expectancy based on different activity regimens. The study used data on activity levels from a questionnaire filled out by some Americans as part of a large federal survey. That information was then matched with death records.

Investigators found that if Americans exercised as much as the top 25% of the most physically active folks, they’d add more than five years to life expectancy. That’s 160 minutes walking a day at a speed of 3 miles per hour, or a brisk walk.

If the least active folks over 40 joined the elite ranks of the active, longevity is estimated to increase 11 years. This equals six extra hours of life per hour walked.

It’s like savings in a bank. The more you put in, the more that accumulates in the vault.

The kind of walking you do matters less than the length of time doing it or some equivalent exercise. Walk the dog. Walk around the office every half-hour. Walk on a beach. Take up golf without a cart. It’s all good.

It’s a walk in the park.

Dogs explore the world through their mouths, but unfortunately that can mean trouble when the items they swallow include things like clothing, paper, bones and many other items that can wreak havoc on their gastrointestinal system. Cats often will ingest thread, wool, plant materials and small toys, among other things, and are similarly at risk for foreign body obstruction. On this show, Dr. Kathleen Ham will discuss what happens when something gets stuck and causes a foreign body obstruction, what treatments are needed and what pet owners can do to minimize risks associated with this problem, both inside and outside of the household.

For more than 50 years, the mantra for reducing the risk of premature death was taking 10,000 steps a day. The idea persisted, even though it lacked a lot of scientific support.

Now, there’s a new number, and it’s backed by scientific proof: 8,000 steps a day. University of Grenada researchers made that conclusion, and it’s similar to other recent studies, which showed many health benefits are obtained at fewer than 10,000 steps.

For their study, the researchers set clear step targets that produce optimal results, something that had not been done before. Their work included a meta-analysis of 12 international studies involving more than 110,000 participants.

Their takeaway message is this: Health benefits are possible even with small increases in the number of daily steps. Even people who are mostly inactive had incremental health improvements with every 500 additional steps. Since not everyone can do thousands of steps a day, the researchers say the findings are good news for those looking to set small, reachable goals that can expand over time.

In the study, men and women benefited equally from consistent walking. It also found that faster walking had the strongest effect on reducing mortality, regardless of the number of steps taken.

So how much is too much when it comes to daily walking? The study found that even 16,000 steps a day poses no risk. But the number of daily steps beyond 7,200 brings diminishing returns: Reductions in mortality risk get smaller as the step count rises.

On your journey to a longer life, remember: Every step counts.

As many of us know, loneliness is different than being alone. But when does solitary time start to correlate with loneliness? It turns out that science has an answer.

People who spend 75% of their time alone find it difficult to avoid feelings of loneliness. That’s what University of Arizona researchers determined after studying the lifestyle habits of more than 400 people over the past 20 years.

To characterize time spent alone, one of the techniques the researchers used was a smartphone app that recorded the sounds participants made every 12 minutes. On the basis of that and other data, the typical study participant spent 66% of their time alone. Those who were alone more than three-fourths of the time reported feeling the loneliest.

Among older adults, being alone and feeling lonely are more closely linked than they are in younger people. For people over age 67, there was about a 25% overlap between aloneness and being alone. That compares with about 3% among all the study’s participants.

For older adults, the increased sense of loneliness may result from demographic and aging issues. People’s social networks tend to shrink as they get older, as does the ability to spend time with others. The researchers also noted that younger people may have a wider range of responses to solitary time and loneliness: They might feel lonely in a crowd or be perfectly at ease by themselves.

No matter the age or situation, loneliness can be a health determinant. In fact, the U.S. Surgeon General noted just that in a 2023 advisory.

So, mind your habits and your social calendar: There’s a definite line between being alone and feeling lonely.

If your goal for the year is to eat healthier and exercise more, you might want to focus first on getting some shut-eye.

Research suggests that getting a good night’s rest can make it easier to stick to daily diet and exercise goals.

American Heart Association researchers studied 125 adults who were classified as overweight or having obesity during a yearlong weight-loss program. The program included group sessions and daily calorie-intake goals.

The researchers evaluated participants’ sleep habits at the beginning, middle, and end of the program using a sleep diary, a wrist-worn sleep tracker, and patient questionnaires. Each participant was evaluated on various sleep measures, including regularity, alertness, timing, efficiency, duration, and satisfaction.

They were then assigned a sleep score from zero to six based on their sleep habits, earning one point for each good sleep measure.

Results showed that those with better sleep habits were more likely to follow their daily calorie intake and exercise goals compared with those with who didn’t sleep as well. Participants who slept better also attended more group sessions.

The superior sleepers attended 79% of group sessions in the first six months of the study and 62% in the second half. They met their daily calorie goals 36% of the time in the first half of the study and 21% of the time in the second half.

So, if cramming in gym sessions and dieting has you abandoning your resolutions in the first few weeks of the year, you might first concentrate on getting the recommended seven to nine hours of sleep.

Prioritize your sleep goals, and the healthier lifestyle might just follow.

For a certain subset, little compares to the thrill of a thrift-store find. A pair of Dolce & Gabanna pants marked down to a squeal-worthy price. Or maybe it’s a pair of vintage Levi’s that fit like they were made for you.

It’s a good, clean hobby that helps fight fast fashion and keeps tons of clothing from clogging landfills.

Wait, did we say “clean?” Experts say no matter how excited you might be to wear your latest finds, it’s vital that you wash and disinfect them first.

Clothes can contain germs — bacteria, fungi, viruses, even parasites — that can make you sick.

Everyone’s skin is coated in millions of germs, which means any item of clothing we wear comes in close contact with them. Sometimes your vintage find has been laundered. Sometimes it hasn’t.

If the clothing hasn’t been cleaned, it could be carrying the bacteria behind staph infections or the dreaded antibiotic-resistant MRSA [mer-sah]. It could carry the virus that causes human papillomavirus, which can cause cancers for those who haven’t been vaccinated. The possibilities, unfortunately, are endless.

The temperature you’re looking to kill the bulk of these germs is 140 degrees Fahrenheit. Most home washing machines have a “hot” temperature around 130 degrees, so you might need to select “extra hot” or the “sanitize” setting, if available.

If you can’t wash the item in hot water or bake it in the dryer, a laundry sanitizer added to the wash should do the trick.

Those who are immunocompromised should follow these tips like the law.

If you’re thinking you’ve outsmarted germs because you only buy new clothes, don’t forget: It’s generally been pawed over and tried on, too.

Central Florida is home to horses of all breeds and disciplines, and boasts one of the most robust equine industries in the country. With a plethora of horses for sale, how do potential buyers know if a particular horse is healthy and well-suited for the desired job? Most equine sale contracts do not contain buy-back clauses, making it critically important for buyers to obtain as much information as possible before purchasing.  A veterinary pre-purchase exam, or PPE, is a great way for buyers to protect their upcoming investment by screening for common health conditions and evaluating for musculoskeletal soundness prior to sale. On this show, Dr. Sally DeNotta, a clinical associate professor and equine extension veterinarian, will share more about this important topic for horse owners.

Next time you’re in any large crowd — at a movie theater, a football game or in the toy department of some store two days before Christmas — take a look around.

Odds are, every other adolescent you see, and 3 out of 4 adults, will be obese or overweight.

That’s the finding in a new, comprehensive study published in the prestigious journal The Lancet. It analyzed data from 132 unique sources in the United States to calculate weight trends from 1990 to 2021, finding three-quarters of adults and half of adolescents are now too heavy. That’s more than 200 million people.

While the survey examined data no later than 2021, scientists are confident the numbers have not since fallen. Indeed, the study says numbers are expected to increase to 80% and 60%, respectively, in about 25 years.

The obesity epidemic is a brake on the average life expectancy in the U.S. Obesity is estimated to cause 335,000 deaths annually. Those extra pounds heighten the risk of many maladies, including diabetes, heart attack, stroke, cancer, and even mental health disorders.

The related health care costs are enormous. By one estimate, the bill over the next decade will be an estimated $9.1 trillion.

It hasn’t always been so, of course. Rates of obese and overweight Americans have tripled since the 1960s.

While new weight-loss drugs and technologic innovations like mobile health apps have helped some shed the pounds, challenges like cost mean they don’t scale well.

To maintain a healthy weight, eat healthy foods like fruits and vegetables. Avoid processed items. Don’t overload your plate. And exercise regularly.

It’s a recipe for a longer life.

If you’ve ever heard a song and been instantly transported back to your senior prom or your first concert, then you know music holds memories.

But you might not know that music can also alter the way you feel about those memories. New research suggests that not only can music trigger memories, it can also change what you remember.

University of Colorado Boulder and the Georgia Institute of Technology researchers conducted a three-day experiment to determine how music, emotion, and memory interact.

On the first day, participants memorized short, emotionally neutral stories. The second day, they were asked to recall the stories while listening to positive music, negative music, or none at all. The researchers also measured the participants’ brain activity using scans that detect changes in blood flow.

On the last day, participants were asked to recall the stories again without music.

The researchers found that when participants listened to emotionally charged or negative music while recalling neutral stories, they were more likely to add emotional elements to the story. When they listened to positive music, they remembered the stories more positively.

The experiment also showed that while participants listened to music, there was increased activity in the parts of their brains that control emotional memory processing.

The researchers say their findings could someday be used for therapeutic purposes, helping people handle difficult memories by reframing them.

For those with post-traumatic stress disorder or depression, musical therapy could help make the past less painful so the present can be more rewarding.

When it comes to living a healthier lifestyle, listen to and watch your co-workers. Their positive habits could eventually help you.

That’s the main message from researchers in the Netherlands, who tracked the influence that employees can have on their colleagues when it comes to eating better and working out. While much is known about the effects that neighbors, friends, and relatives have on lifestyle choices, there’s much less evidence about how co-workers influence those behaviors.

Using data from more than 4,300 people across 113 organizations, this is what the researchers found: People are more likely to eat fruits and vegetables when their colleagues encourage them. The same held true for exercise, although the effect was less pronounced.

So why do our co-workers hold more sway over our eating habits than our exercise routines? The researchers theorize it may be a matter of proximity: Most people eat at work — often together — whereas exercise usually happens after work.

The study is one of the first to address co-workers’ influence on healthy behaviors. Unlike some prior research, it used an approach that allowed for a more fine-tuned analysis of the relationship between co-workers and healthier behaviors.

Now, the researchers said, workplace leaders and public policymakers can use the findings when making important decisions about ways to encourage healthier living. Colleagues can now be relevant sources of social support when it comes to healthy behaviors, just like friends and neighbors have been.

So keep up with your work friend in the next cubicle. Their good habits could soon become yours.