Improve Performance With Mobility Training

Lauren Rubadeau There are several factors in our modern lifestyles that can affect our physical well-being and leave us feeling aged beyond our years. Sitting for extended hours throughout the day at a desk, overall lack of movement, or even repetitive movements that comprise our range of motion can leave our bodies feeling stiff and

Increase Your Immune System Through Exercise

Julia Basso – PhD The immune system is a complicated network of cells, including T cells and B cells, that protects us against a host of diseases.  Like many of our physiological systems, the immune system can be shaped by both positive and negative influences.  For example, chronic stress and depression have been shown to

Muscle Function

Improve Muscle Function: Osteocalcin

Julia Basso – PhD As we age, cognitive decline is a problem that many of us face.  Though pharmacological interventions do not currently exist to help fix this issue, exercise has been shown to improve the way our brains function and therefore how we think and feel.  However, an inherent problem to the “just exercise”

Walk in the Park

Is it as Simple as a Walk in the Park?

Gillian White , BSc, MSc, PhD (candidate) Department of Exercise Sciences, University of Toronto Is it as Simple as a Walk in the Park? Earlier this summer, I ran a trail half marathon. I like running, but the course is challenging with 1600m vertical change so you really need to train well. Unfortunately for me,

Cost of Getting Lean: Is it Worth the Trade-offs

Evan Stevens Based on a talk by Dr. John Berardi at Take Control of Your Health/Wellness – Exercise Nutrition Symposium, University of Western Ontario We all want to look like we fell out of a magazine, ripped abs, tight bottom, toned legs, and so on. But what are we willing to do to get there?

Improving Cognition Through Exercise - Part 2

Exercise and Alzheimer’s Disease

Julia Basso , PhD Affiliation: New York University, Center for Neural Science As we age, many of us experience problems with memory.  In some cases, these issues may progress to Mild Cognitive Impairment or dementia.  Dementia is a disorder characterized by significant cognitive impairment. This impairment occurs most frequently in the areas of learning, memory,

Can exercise really prevent cancer?

Gillian White – BSc, MSc. PhD (C) Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education, University of Toronto; Department fo Physiology and Experimental Medicine, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Over the last decade, it has become increasingly clear how important exercise is for not only general health and fitness but also prevention of chronic and

The Science of Speed

Evan Stevens Faster than a speeding bullet – how fast can we go? In 1900 the men’s 100m world record was 10.8, in 2000 it was 9.79; today the record sits at 9.58 and has been since 2009. The magical 10 second barrier, the standard of sprinting prowess, has really only been consistently broken since

A New Prescription For Health: Interval Walking

by Sara Thompson and Fiona Callender We extended our visit in Copenhagen to visit Professor Kristian Karstoft, thanks to a recommendation by his colleague Dr. Jonathan Little. Dr. Karstoft is a medical doctor at the University of Copenhagen who has focused on clinical research over the past five years. He does research on various chronic

stretching with a resistance band

Can Resistance Training Build Brain and Brawn?

Contributed by Fiona Callender, Research Assistant, University of Toronto In Gillian White’s most recent FTG article she brought strength training in to our conversation. We learned about the importance of strength training as we age and the parameters we should employ to optimize the benefits of this training. As we have seen in past articles, loss

Smaller Waistline and Bigger Brain

A 360 Look at How Exercise Affects Brain Function

Contributed by Gillian White, PhD candidate, Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education, Human Physiology Research Unit, University of Toronto A growing field of research is showing the importance of exercise for brain health as we age, not only slowing decline in older years, but actually improving cognitive function. It was startling news to us at