Sports Can Make the Human Body 10 Years Younger

Seniors are encouraged improve their exposure to vitamin D for better brain health. Photo: AFP/Istock
Seniors are encouraged improve their exposure to vitamin D for better brain health. Photo: AFP/Istock
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Sports Can Make the Human Body 10 Years Younger

Seniors are encouraged improve their exposure to vitamin D for better brain health. Photo: AFP/Istock
Seniors are encouraged improve their exposure to vitamin D for better brain health. Photo: AFP/Istock

Recent analysis of data from a long-term study into the effects of an active lifestyle show those who lead active lifestyles were around 10 years younger in terms of motor skills. The results of the study were published by the Sports Institute at the German Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT).

This study focused on examining the health status of middle-aged people who regularly practice sports, and others who don’t.

Prof. Klaus Bös, who led the study with the scientist Alexander Woll said: “Our data shows that a 50-year-old sportsperson is as fit as the 40-year-old inactive individual,” according to the German News Agency (DPA).

He said data also showed that health problems which usually increase with age are remarkably rare among those practice sports.

The study found that those who exercise less than two and a half hours a week are four times more likely to suffer from diabetes. The study kicked off in 1992 in the city of Schönborn, Germany, and involved over 500 women and men, aged between 35 and 80 years old.

Bös said the physical activity among the study participants increased over the years, but 50% of them did not reach the two-and-half-hours exercise per week recommended by the WHO. However, sports alone is not enough to keep the body healthy as people age.

Older people often eat little or consume foods that lack nutrients, because they prefer easy-to-prepare meals, making it difficult for them to fight infections, said an expert.

"Without a balanced diet, infections such as flu can affect an individual many times," the expert added.

Family members of infected people should not be surprised that their loved ones need extra help. They should pay more attention to their sick relatives, and make sure they eat nutritious foods. They should also encourage older people to exercise since sports enhances the body resistance.

Experts also recommend sauna sessions that stimulate metabolism and blood circulation and help individuals sleep better. It is also strongly recommended that people above 60 years old receive the annual flu vaccine.



Climate Change Causing More Change in Rainfall, Fiercer Typhoons, Scientists Say 

People and vehicles wade through the water along a street that was flooded by Typhoon Gaemi in Kaohsiung on July 25, 2024. (AFP)
People and vehicles wade through the water along a street that was flooded by Typhoon Gaemi in Kaohsiung on July 25, 2024. (AFP)
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Climate Change Causing More Change in Rainfall, Fiercer Typhoons, Scientists Say 

People and vehicles wade through the water along a street that was flooded by Typhoon Gaemi in Kaohsiung on July 25, 2024. (AFP)
People and vehicles wade through the water along a street that was flooded by Typhoon Gaemi in Kaohsiung on July 25, 2024. (AFP)

Climate change is driving changes in rainfall patterns across the world, scientists said in a paper published on Friday, which could also be intensifying typhoons and other tropical storms.

Taiwan, the Philippines and then China were lashed by the year's most powerful typhoon this week, with schools, businesses and financial markets shut as wind speeds surged up to 227 kph (141 mph). On China's eastern coast, hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated ahead of landfall on Thursday.

Stronger tropical storms are part of a wider phenomenon of weather extremes driven by higher temperatures, scientists say.

Researchers led by Zhang Wenxia at the China Academy of Sciences studied historical meteorological data and found about 75% of the world's land area had seen a rise in "precipitation variability" or wider swings between wet and dry weather.

Warming temperatures have enhanced the ability of the atmosphere to hold moisture, which is causing wider fluctuations in rainfall, the researchers said in a paper published by the Science journal.

"(Variability) has increased in most places, including Australia, which means rainier rain periods and drier dry periods," said Steven Sherwood, a scientist at the Climate Change Research Center at the University of New South Wales, who was not involved in the study.

"This is going to increase as global warming continues, enhancing the chances of droughts and/or floods."

FEWER, BUT MORE INTENSE, STORMS

Scientists believe that climate change is also reshaping the behavior of tropical storms, including typhoons, making them less frequent but more powerful.

"I believe higher water vapor in the atmosphere is the ultimate cause of all of these tendencies toward more extreme hydrologic phenomena," Sherwood told Reuters.

Typhoon Gaemi, which first made landfall in Taiwan on Wednesday, was the strongest to hit the island in eight years.

While it is difficult to attribute individual weather events to climate change, models predict that global warming makes typhoons stronger, said Sachie Kanada, a researcher at Japan's Nagoya University.

"In general, warmer sea surface temperature is a favorable condition for tropical cyclone development," she said.

In its "blue paper" on climate change published this month, China said the number of typhoons in the Northwest Pacific and South China Sea had declined significantly since the 1990s, but they were getting stronger.

Taiwan also said in its climate change report published in May that climate change was likely to reduce the overall number of typhoons in the region while making each one more intense.

The decrease in the number of typhoons is due to the uneven pattern of ocean warming, with temperatures rising faster in the western Pacific than the east, said Feng Xiangbo, a tropical cyclone research scientist at the University of Reading.

Water vapor capacity in the lower atmosphere is expected to rise by 7% for each 1 degree Celsius increase in temperatures, with tropical cyclone rainfall in the United States surging by as much as 40% for each single degree rise, he said.