UF Health Podcasts

Similar to people, pets are living longer lives these days due to improved veterinary care and dietary habits. But with extended lives comes a whole new set of age-related conditions, which in turn affects the care needs of these “pet elders” – our beloved senior pets. This show’s guest, Dr. Amy Stone, who heads the primary care and dentistry service at UF, will discuss some of the common conditions that affect older pets, which are among the same problems that affect older people: cancer, heart disease, diabetes, kidney/urinary tract disease, senility, among others. She’ll also talk about how to work with your veterinarian at every stage of your pet’s life to ensure that the aging process is as graceful and as painless as it can be.

High-intensity exercise and time-restricted eating may improve health together, a recent study suggests.

Many diets and exercise regimens claim to hold the golden ticket to a healthier, fitter body. Now, a new study suggests that the winning formula might lie in the interaction between time-restricted eating and high-intensity functional exercise.

Researchers from Tunisia and their collaborators sought to explore the impact of these lifestyle interventions on body composition and cardiometabolic health.

The study enrolled 64 obese women and separated them into three groups. One practiced time-restricted eating, a second engaged in high-intensity exercise, and the third combined diet and exercise.

After just 12 weeks, all groups of participants experienced significant weight loss as well as reductions in waist and hip circumference. Furthermore, favorable changes in lipid and glucose levels were observed across the board.

Notably, the diet and exercise group saw results that outstripped the others. Participants who embraced both time-restricted eating and high-intensity exercise saw a more profound improvement in body composition and cardiometabolic parameters compared with their counterparts.

The study acknowledges its limitations, like its small sample size. But the implications are overwhelmingly positive. By merging dietary changes with targeted exercise, people may be able to enhance their well-being. Whether it’s shedding stubborn pounds or optimizing metabolic markers, the synergistic effects of these lifestyle interventions may offer a promising path toward a healthier, happier life.

Glenn Frey [Fry] said it best: “The heat is on.”

If you walk outside on the street these days, you’ll certainly have noticed the temperatures are headed up.

Due to climate change, the warmer weather lasts longer each year. To help you prepare, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Weather Service joined forces to create an interactive online tool called HeatRisk. This online dashboard helps people understand how the heat in your area affects your health and what you can do to protect yourself.

Instead of measuring by degrees, the forecast uses a five-level color scale — ranging from no risk to extreme risk — to indicate your health risk. The tool uses indicators such as heat index, air quality and humidity to offer guidance on how to handle the weather. Higher temperatures can lead to heatstroke, heat exhaustion, heat cramps, sunburn and even heat rash.

Infants and children up to 4 years of age, people 65 and older, and those who are overweight or ill and take certain medications are most at risk from heat.

Planning for the heat is the best thing you can do to stay safe. Be sure to drink enough water and spend time in an air-conditioned room after your time outdoors. Also, consider lowering your body temperature with a cold shower.

And don’t forget your furry friends. Generally, when it’s 86 degrees Fahrenheit or higher, your dog is at risk for heatstroke. For some dogs, the threshold is even lower.

Keep your pets indoors as much as possible during the summer. If you must keep them outdoors, carve out a shady place and make sure their water bowl is filled. If it’s hot for you, they are definitely a hot dog.

Life as an American worker is challenging. Many of us work too hard and don’t get enough time off. Some employees don’t get sick time at all and lose pay if they skip a shift.

Even those with successful, lucrative careers see the work pile up when they take a day off. That work doesn’t get done if someone’s home in bed.

So, what do most of us do when we have a cold or bug? Take a sick day?

Not so much, as you might expect.

A new poll by the market research company Talker Research, found that the average American works 84 hours, or just over two work weeks a year, while sick with a cold or other virus.

About half the 2,000 adult workers surveyed said they would rather just power through their day than call in. A third worry about looking overly dramatic by staying home to rest and recover.

Many employees recall someone making a snide comment about how much they called in with an illness. That influences them to show up at the job to grind through the sneezes and sniffles.

Of course, these workers can infect the very people making the nasty remarks, who then presumably work through their own bug.

Americans will more often miss a social outing because of a cold or other virus. The average respondent missed 17 social events because of illness.

Seasonal allergies affect nearly half the adults surveyed. The poll notes this group hesitates to take a sick day because of what co-workers might think.

Employer and employee benefit from a sick day. A worker distracted by a cold is invariably going to have performance issues. That can impact job safety and increase mistakes.

And that’s nothing to sneeze at.

Regardless of your stress, a new study posits one easy solution to combat it: getting adequate exercise.

Yes, that’s correct — another health study in favor of moving your body. In this case, scientists from Massachusetts General Hospital discovered a possible association between physical activity, stress reduction and cardiovascular health.

After analyzing data from over 50,000 participants, researchers found those who met physical activity guidelines of getting 150 minutes of moderly intense exercise weekly slashed their risk of cardiovascular disease by 23%.

What was even more intriguing is that the results indicated individuals with higher physical activity levels exhibited lower stress-related brain activity, particularly in the prefrontal cortex. In the modern vernacular, they were chill or, at the least, chiller.

For those battling mental health conditions, like depression, that can be influenced by stress, exercise magnifies cardiovascular benefits. In this group, physical activity effectively halved the risk of cardiovascular disease, emphasizing the benefits of exercise on both brain function and heart health.

As with most preliminary studies, questions remain. For example, further research is needed to delve deeper into the mechanisms linking physical activity, brain health and cardiovascular resilience, or the system’s ability to recover from stress.

Clinicians now have a powerful prescription at their disposal. It doesn’t come in a bottle. And pharmacists can’t help with the proper dosage unless they’re also wearing a tracksuit.

So lace up the sneakers, work those muscles and don’t sweat the stress. Well… you know what we mean.

Ladies, please take note. Whether it’s hitting the gym, going for a walk, playing tennis, or simply climbing the stairs at your job for an office workout, new data supports why you might want to embrace an active lifestyle.

A new study from the University of Sydney in Australia emphasizes the positive impact of consistent physical activity on women’s health-related quality of life throughout middle age.

Researchers examined the long-term effects of exercise on women’s well-being. Unlike previous studies, which often relied on short-term trials, this study tracked more than 11,000 participants over fifteen years.

Women consistently adhering to the World Health Organization-recommended guidelines of 150 minutes of exercise a week enjoyed more robust markers of good health compared with their less active counterparts. Even those who began meeting the guidelines later in life, around age 55, experienced improvements in health.

Notably, these benefits persisted even after accounting for different socioeconomic factors and pre-existing health conditions. From enhanced physical functioning to improved overall well-being, the advantages of staying active were encouraging across the board.

Although the study didn’t find a significant association between physical activity and improved mental health, the message remains clear: Prioritizing physical activity throughout life yields tangible benefits for women’s health.

Diets and medication can take you only so far. Exercise is always the best ingredient for good health, longevity and the happiness it brings.

It’s never too late to reap the rewards of an active lifestyle — and, in fact, it might just be what the doctor ordered.

All exercise improves health unless your morning jog takes you down a narrow, rock-strewn path over a high cliff.

Whether you cycle, run or swim, anything that gets the heart beating faster will improve longevity. It will help steer you away from cardiovascular disease and other ailments like diabetes.

Few people, however, give much thought to the time of their workouts. Does it matter? New research shows that it does for at least one group.

A study from the University of Sydney shows that obese individuals most benefit from evening exercise, between 6 p.m. and midnight. Moderate to vigorous exercise significantly lowers the risk of cardiovascular disease and early death, compared with afternoon or morning workouts.

Moderate to vigorous exercise might include a brisk walk, gardening or cycling. Think about anything that makes the heart beat faster.

Researchers tracked 30,000 people who took part in the UK Biobank study for eight years, detailing their exercise and health outcomes. Evening exercisers had a 61% lower risk of death from any cause compared with a sedentary group.

Morning and afternoon exercisers lowered their risk by 33% and 40%, respectively.

Night owls reduced their risk of cardiovascular disease twice as much as those who exercised at other times.

One theory for why this might be is that the body is better primed later in the day to manage its blood sugar, increasing the beneficial effect of exercise. And evening exercise plays an important role in blood pressure regulation.

Still, don’t let evening obligations stop you from exercising. But you can’t go wrong, whatever time of day you increase your heart rate.

Hold onto your team-logoed ballcaps and giant foam fingers.

A new study by Japanese scientists found that watching sports is good for us. More specifically, frequent sports viewing may rewire our brains — in a good way.

Beyond its entertainment value, it’s long been known that sports foster a sense of belonging and community. But little scientific study had been devoted to understanding why.

Here’s how the researchers came to their findings.

First, they analyzed publicly available data on the influence of sports-watching on 20,000 Japanese adults. That confirmed an ongoing pattern of reported elevated well-being associated with sports viewing.

Then they conducted an online experiment with more than 200 people. They showed various sports videos and assessed participants’ well-being before and after. They found that more popular sports, like baseball, had more impact on well-being than less popular sports, like golf. (Sorry, Tiger.)

The final part of the study used neuroimaging to look at changes in brain activity following sports viewing.

Researchers took MRIs from 14 able-bodied Japanese adults as they watched sports clips. Watching the clips triggered the participants’ reward circuits, indicating happiness.

Here’s where it got really interesting: They found that participants who reported more frequent sports viewing often had more gray matter volume in parts of the brain tied to reward. Scientists said that suggests regular sports viewing may gradually induce changes in brain structure.

The study, however, did not explore the health effects of 14 trips to the kitchen or concession stand for beer and hot dogs.

Is it impossible for meat options to be healthier than a juicy Beyond Burger?

Think again, friend.

Researchers in Singapore conducted a study of adults at risk for diabetes, comparing the health effects of plant-based meat substitutes to traditional meats.

The study included nearly 90 adults at risk for Type 2 diabetes. Over an eight-week span, half of the group ate meat. The other half ate meat substitutes made from plants.

The analysis, published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, found no significant heart health benefits for meat or the substitutes.

They reviewed study participants bad cholesterol, blood sugar and blood pressure, among other health indicators. They found no significant changes in cholesterol profiles for either diet, although both diets led to improvements in blood sugar.

In one smaller group that closely monitored their blood sugar, the meat eaters managed their blood sugar levels better.

Animal meat contains more protein while plant-based meat has more sodium, potassium and calcium. Therefore, the study suggests, better blood sugar levels may come from traditional meat’s low-carbohydrate, high-protein composition.

While much research has found that plant-based diets hold many health-related benefits, all plant-based meat alternatives are not created equal. Some are heavily processed and may not be a good primary source of protein.

The researchers said they hope their study will encourage the food industry to continue working toward more nutritious plant-based meat alternatives.

No matter your burger preference, doesn’t it seem like a good time to fire up the grill?

If you “slept like a dog” last night, it probably means you didn’t have one in bed, draped across your legs like a heavy blanket that occasionally licks your toes.

Indeed, even sleeping in the same room as your dog risks ruining a good night’s sleep. A dog can be like an erratic alarm clock randomly waking you through the night.

A study by researchers at Trinity College in Connecticut questioned more than 1,500 Americans about their sleep habits. About half of this representative sample of adults reported sleeping in the same room as their pet for at least part of the night. The other half didn’t sleep with pets close by.

Scientists found that adults who slept with their dogs either in bed or in the same room reported poorer sleep quality and more insomnia. That’s compared with those who either didn’t have pets or kept them clear of the bedroom.

Cats are another story. Apparently, felines are less of a sleep nuisance. An explanation for that remains elusive, like that red laser dot a cat can never catch.

More than nine out of 10 people who snuggled snoozily with their pets believed the animals had a positive or neutral effect on sleep.

Scientists note that sleep affects all of our body’s systems. It helps our brains reset, clears out waste products and promotes overall health.

Any dog owner can attest to the mental health value of keeping a pet nearby. Dogs also encourage exercise. We walk and play with them. They’re not harming you like a pack of cigarettes. Still, sleep is important.

If you can’t bear the thought of moving this bedtime companion to another room, one solution makes sense.

Get a bigger mattress.