Next time you’re ready to hit the sofa for an evening of TV, think twice – it just might kill you.

Though too much sitting has long been linked to health risks, a new study suggests all sitting isn’t the same – and sitting in front of the TV after dinner for long hours at a stretch is especially unhealthy.

Toxic combination

In fact, those who did just that increased their risk for heart attack, stroke and early death by 50% compared to those who didn’t, researchers report.

“It’s the combination of dinner and sitting on the couch watching TV for hours afterward that we think can be very toxic,” said lead researcher Keith Diaz, an assistant professor of behavioural medicine at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City.

Sitting in front of the TV is different from sitting at work, he said.

“At work, we get up and move often – we go to a co-worker’s desk, we go to the bathroom, to the copy machine etc.,” Diaz said. “But when we sit and watch TV, we tend not to move for hours at a time. That type of sitting is the most hazardous type of sitting.”

Hours spent in front of the TV after dinner increase blood sugar and cholesterol. And because muscles are inactive, they don’t help clear away the sugar and fat from blood vessels. Diaz suspects this is what makes this type of sitting so lethal.

Although all participants in the study were black, Diaz said the findings probably apply to all groups.

Go out for a walk

He cautioned, though, that the study doesn’t prove that sitting for long, uninterrupted periods causes heart attacks or stroke or premature death, only that there’s a link.

“The last thing you should do after a big meal is sit down and watch TV for hours,” Diaz said. “Go out for a 10- to 20-minute walk and then sit down.”

The study followed nearly 3 600 Mississippians for almost nine years. Participants reported how much time they typically spent sitting while watching TV and doing work. They also reported on their exercise habits.

Those who watched TV four hours or more a day had a 50% higher risk for heart attack, stroke and early death, compared with those whose TV time was less than two hours a day, the study found.

Surprisingly, those who sat for long periods on the job had the same risk for heart disease and early death as those who sat the least, the researchers found.

But even the most devoted couch potatoes could reduce their risk by getting a little exercise, Diaz said.

‘Move more and sit less’

For those who watched a lot of TV, exercising for at least 150 minutes a week removed the added health risk.

“These findings reinforce current recommendations to reduce time spent sitting and to engage in at least 150 minutes per week of moderate intensity aerobic activity spread throughout the week,” said Dr Gregg Fonarow, a American Heart Association spokesman and professor of cardiology at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Moderate intensity aerobic activities include brisk walking (at least 2.5 miles per hour), dancing, gardening, doubles tennis and biking, he said.

“Even light intensity physical activity can offset some of the risks of being sedentary,” Fonarow added. “These findings reinforce the advice to ‘move more and sit less’.”

The findings were published online in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

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Picture fit celebs like Ariana Grande, Nina Dobrev, and Behati Prinsloo—would you ever suspect that they sculpted their butts without doing a single squat? Well, believe it, because their trainer Harley Pasternak is adamantly opposed to the lower-body move.

“There are a million glute exercises out there, but that doesn’t mean there are a million good glute exercises,” Pasternak (who’s also previously worked with Lady Gaga, Hilary Duff, Rihanna, and countless other celebs) told Women’s Health. His opinion: “Squats aren’t a great glute exercise at all, so I don’t do squats with my clients.”

Why, exactly? While they’re a time-honoured move, Pasternak notes that for squats to be effective, you need to add a lot of weight onto your back using a barbell. “Loading your spine with all that weight, putting your shoulder girdle back to hold the bar, that’s all really tough on your body,” he says.

READ MORE: This 4-Week Squat Challenge Will Transform Your Butt And Thighs

Additionally, most people (read: probably you) are stronger on one side of the body than the other. “Whether it’s that toe you stubbed as a kid, that ankle you rolled playing sports, that knee that bugs you—there’s something that’s going to cause you to compensate.”

And when you’re doing an exercise like a squat, which involves two legs at once, it’s really hard to tell what percentage of effort your left side is exerting versus your right. “The stronger side will continue to get stronger, the weaker side will continue to get neglected,” says Pasternak, “and your glutes aren’t getting what they need.”

Instead, Pasternak recommends opting for isolateral exercises (a.k.a. single-sided moves). His favourite: Lunges! That includes forward lunges, reverse lunges, side lunges, skater lunges, the list goes on. “Since these are isolateral, your dominant side doesn’t have a chance to take over,” he says. “And you’re getting a deeper range of motion than you would with a squat, so your glute has to work harder.” Isolateral exercises like lunges also create an unbalanced environment for your body, “so your core really has to compensate to keep your body upright.”

READ MORE: The Right Way To Do Reverse Lunges

How to: Stand up tall, then take a large step forward. From here, bend your knees and lower your body until your legs form 90-degree angles. Hold for 30 to 60 seconds, then repeat on the other side.

Pasternak also prefers lunges since they mimic everyday life. “We tend to do more things on one foot,” he says. “When you walk, you never have two feet on the ground at once. We walk on the stairs one leg at a time.”

Now, Pasternak does admit that sometimes he’ll throw a plyometric jump squat in at the end of his workouts, for a fun change of pace. But he ensures clients do this move on a soft surface, with a resistance band wrapped around their thighs for additional-activation, and with nothing but bodyweight.

Other than that tiny exception, this celebrity trainer gives you full permission to nix squats from your routine—for good.

^{This article was originally published on www.womenshealthmag.com} 

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Kristine Thomason

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Cannabidiol (CBD) has been receiving a lot of attention lately as a potential treatment for everything from epilepsy to anxiety. Now, researchers report it might also help curb the cravings that come with opioid addiction.

Like marijuana, CBD comes from the cannabis plant. Unlike marijuana, it does not produce a high.

Reduced drug cue-induced craving

The study included 42 men and women with a history of heroin abuse who were not current users. Heroin is an illegal opioid. Other opioids include powerful prescription painkillers such as oxycodone (OxyContin).

For the study, participants received either an oral CBD solution or an inactive placebo and then were shown videos that contained neutral and drug-related cues. Neutral cues included relaxing scenarios such as scenes of nature, while drug-related cues included scenes of IV drug use and heroin-related items such as syringes, rubber ties and packets of powder.

The researchers found that, compared to a placebo, CBD reduced drug cue-induced craving and anxiety in the participants.

“Our findings indicate that CBD holds significant promise for treating individuals with heroin use disorder,” said first author Yasmin Hurd. She is director of the Addiction Institute at Mount Sinai in New York City.

“A successful non-opioid medication would add significantly to the existing addiction medication toolbox to help reduce the growing death toll, enormous health care costs, and treatment limitations imposed by stringent government regulations amid this persistent opioid epidemic,” she said in a Mount Sinai news release.

Urgent need for other treatments

The United States is struggling with an opioid epidemic that’s claimed more than 300 000 lives since it began. Two current opioid addiction treatments are methadone and buprenorphine, which work on the same opioid receptors as heroin and other opioids.

But because these treatments carry a stigma, have their own addiction risk and are tightly regulated, millions of Americans with opioid addiction won’t use them, the study authors explained.

That’s why there’s an urgent need to find other treatments, the researchers noted.

The report was published in the American Journal of Psychiatry.

Hurd’s team is now working on two follow-up studies: one to examine how CBD affects the brain; and another to pursue development of CBD-based treatments for opioid addiction.

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It’s a no-brainer – not getting enough sleep makes it harder for kids to learn. And a new study finds that starting school later in the morning can help teens be more alert during the day.

In 2017, the Cherry Creek School District in Greenwood Village, Colorado, changed start times from 8am to 8:50am for its middle school students and from 7:10am to 8:20am for high school students.

Changes during puberty

That change gave middle schoolers 31 more minutes of sleep, while high schoolers got 48 minutes more, the researchers said.

“Biological changes in the circadian rhythm, or internal clock, during puberty prevent teens from falling asleep early enough to get sufficient sleep when faced with early school start times,” said lead researcher Lisa Meltzer. She’s an associate professor of paediatrics at National Jewish Health in Denver.

“This study provides additional support that delaying middle and high school start times results in increased sleep duration for adolescents due to later wake times,” she added in a news release from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

For the study, more than 15 000 students completed online surveys about their sleep habits before and after the new starting time.

Too tired for homework

Besides getting more sleep, students said they were more alert for homework.

Before the time change, 46% of middle schoolers and 71% of high schoolers said they were too tired to do homework. After the change, that dropped to 35% and 56%, respectively.

At the same time, scores that measured academic engagement rose significantly.

“The study findings are important because getting enough sleep is critical for adolescent development, physical health, mood, and academic success,” Meltzer said.

The report was published online recently in the journal Sleep, and the findings were presented Wednesday at a meeting of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine in San Antonio, Texas.

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