Physical activity that boosts fitness should be encouraged “to delay development, progression and death from COPD,” conclude the researchers.

COPD, short for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, is an umbrella term for respiratory conditions that narrow the airways, such as bronchitis and emphysema. Smoking is the main risk factor for COPD, which the World Health Organization ranks as the fourth most frequent cause of death worldwide.

Studies have suggested that a high level of physical activity and/or leisure time exercise is associated with a reduced risk of COPD, and that physical inactivity may speed up its progression.

To explore this further, the researchers tracked the respiratory health of 4,730 healthy middle-aged men from the Copenhagen Male Study, who were recruited from 14 large workplaces in Copenhagen between 1970 and 1971. Their average age was 49.

Those with a previous diagnosis of COPD, asthma, or with symptoms of chronic bronchitis were excluded. Participants were monitored for up to 46 years to January 2016.

All participants provided information on smoking, alcohol intake, physical activity levels, educational attainment, occupation, and medical history.

Height, weight, and resting blood pressure were measured, and cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) was calculated as low, normal, or high, using a VO2 max test — a measure of the body’s ability to use oxygen during exercise. National registers were used to identify cases of COPD and death from COPD.

Compared with low CRF, the estimated risk of COPD diagnosis was 21% lower in men with normal CRF and 31% lower in men with high CRF.

Similarly, compared with low CRF, the estimated risk of death from COPD was 35% lower in men with normal CRF and 62% lower in men with high CRF.

High CRF in middle age was also associated with a delay to both diagnosis of, and death from, COPD by 1.5 to 2 years.

The results were largely unchanged after excluding those who were diagnosed with COPD or who died during the first 10 years of monitoring, suggesting that the findings withstand scrutiny, say the researchers.

This is an observational study, and as such, can’t establish cause. And it’s possible that participants with high levels of CRF were more resilient to underlying COPD, delaying time to diagnosis, say the researchers.

But their results are in line with those of previous studies and provide further insight into the association between cardiorespiratory fitness and the long-term risk of COPD over an exceptionally long monitoring period.

And while the processes that link CRF with the development and progression of COPD aren’t clear, the researchers nevertheless speculate that inflammation, linked to physical inactivity, may have a key role.

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Aside from economic factors, paid employment brings other benefits — often psychological — such as self-esteem and social inclusion. Now, researchers at the universities of Cambridge and Salford have set out to define a recommended “dosage” of work for optimal wellbeing.

They examined how changes in working hours were linked to mental health and life satisfaction in over 70,000 UK residents between 2009 and 2018*.

The study, published today in the journal Social Science and Medicine, shows that when people moved from unemployment or stay-at-home parenting into paid work of eight hours or less a week, their risk of mental health problems reduced by an average of 30%.

Yet researchers found no evidence that working any more than eight hours provided further boosts to wellbeing. The full-time standard of 37 to 40 hours was not significantly different to any other working time category when it came to mental health.

As such, they suggest that to get the mental wellbeing benefits of paid work, the most “effective dose” is only around one day a week — as anything more makes little difference.

“We have effective dosage guides for everything from Vitamin C to hours of sleep in order to help us feel better, but this is the first time the question has been asked of paid work,” said study co-author Dr Brendan Burchell, a sociologist from Cambridge University who leads the Employment Dosage research project.

“We know unemployment is often detrimental to people’s wellbeing, negatively affecting identity, status, time use, and sense of collective purpose. We now have some idea of just how much paid work is needed to get the psychosocial benefits of employment — and it’s not that much at all.”

Supporting the unemployed in a future with limited work is the subject of much policy discussion e.g. universal basic income. However, researchers argue that employment should be retained across adult populations, but working weeks dramatically reduced for work to be redistributed.

“In the next few decades we could see artificial intelligence, big data and robotics replace much of the paid work currently done by humans,” said Dr Daiga Kamer?de, study first author from Salford University and Employment Dosage researcher.

“If there is not enough for everybody who wants to work full-time, we will have to rethink current norms. This should include the redistribution of working hours, so everyone can get the mental health benefits of a job, even if that means we all work much shorter weeks.”

“Our findings are an important step in thinking what the minimum amount of paid work people might need in a future with little work to go round,” she said.

The study used data from the UK Household Longitudinal Study to track the wellbeing of 71,113 individuals between the ages of 16 and 64 as they changed working hours over the nine-year period. People were asked about issues such as anxiety and sleep problems to gauge mental health.

Researchers also found that self-reported life satisfaction in men increased by around 30% with up to eight hours of paid work, although women didn’t see a similar jump until working 20 hours.

They note that “the significant difference in mental health and wellbeing is between those with paid work and those with none,” and that the working week could be shortened considerably “without a detrimental effect on the workers’ mental health and wellbeing.”

The team offer creative policy options for moving into a future with limited work, including “five-day weekends,” working just a couple of hours a day, or increasing annual holiday from weeks to months — even having two months off for every month at work.

They also argue that working hour reduction and redistribution could improve work-life balance, increase productivity, and cut down CO2 emissions from commuting. However, they point out that reduction of hours would need to be for everyone, to avoid increasing socioeconomic inequalities.

“The traditional model, in which everyone works around 40 hours a week, was never based on how much work was good for people. Our research suggests that micro-jobs provide the same psychological benefits as full-time jobs,” said co-author and Cambridge sociologist Senhu Wang.

“However, the quality of work will always be crucial. Jobs where employees are disrespected or subject to insecure or zero-hours contracts do not provide the same benefits to wellbeing, nor are they likely to in the future.”

Dr Burchell added: “If the UK were to plough annual productivity gains into reduced working hours rather than pay rises, the normal working week could be four days within a decade.”

The observed associations were strongest for adenomas that are highly likely to become cancerous, and for those located in the colon rather than in the rectum, the findings indicate.

Previously published research has suggested that eating a lot of yogurt might lower the risk of bowel cancer by changing the type and volume of bacteria in the gut (microbiome).

But it’s not been clear whether yogurt intake might also be associated with a lower risk of pre-cancerous growths, known as adenomas.

The researchers therefore looked at the diets and subsequent development of different types of adenoma among 32,606 men who were part of the Health Professionals Follow Up Study and 55,743 women who were part of the Nurses Health Study.

All the study participants had had a lower bowel endoscopy — a procedure that enables a clinician to view the inside of the gut — between 1986 and 2012. And every four years, they provided detailed information on lifestyle and diet, including how much yogurt they ate.

During the study period, 5811 adenomas developed in the men and 8116 in the women.

Compared with men who didn’t eat yogurt, those who ate two or more servings a week were 19% less likely to develop a conventional adenoma.

This lower risk was even greater (26%) for adenomas that were highly likely to become cancerous, and for those located in the colon rather than in the rectum.

While no obvious association was seen for men with a potentially more dangerous type of adenoma (serrated), a trend towards reduced risk was seen for those measuring 1 or more cm, which is considered to be large.

No such associations between yogurt intake and the development of adenomas were evident among the women.

This is an observational study, and as such, can’t establish cause. Further research would be needed to confirm the findings and uncover the biology involved, emphasise the researchers.

But the large number of people studied and the regular updates on diet and lifestyle factors add heft to the findings, they suggest.

By way of a possible explanation for what they found, the researchers point out that Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus, two bacteria commonly found in live yogurt, may lower the number of cancer causing chemicals in the gut.

And the stronger link seen for adenomas growing in the colon may partly be due to the lower acidity (pH) in this part of the gut, making it a more hospitable environment for these bacteria, they add.

Alternatively, yogurt may have anti-inflammatory properties and may reduce the ‘leakiness’ of the gut as adenomas are associated with increased gut permeability, they suggest.

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