Laughter Yoga – The Next Big Thing

Dayton Kelly Why Laughter Yoga may be your next big thing A new type of yoga is fast emerging in fitness studios across north American: laughter yoga. Laughter Yoga is a variation of regular yoga in which participants are encouraged to laugh, even if they do not find anything funny. The class proceeds similarly to

Animal, Human, and Clinical Studies About Exercise

Julia Basso, PhD I recently returned from the annual Society for Neuroscience meeting located in San Diego, California.  The Society for Neuroscience boasts that this conference is, “the world’s largest meeting focused on scientific discovery related to the brain and nervous system.”  More than 30,300 researchers, clinicians, and advocates gathered at this meeting to discuss

Reduce Healthcare Costs

Reduce Healthcare Costs with Exercise

Julia Basso – PhD It’s that spooky time of year, and surely something’s scary…healthcare costs in the United States.  Countries around the world spend on average 9% of their gross domestic product (GDP) on health care.  From this graph, which represents the healthcare costs per capita as a percentage of the GDP, you can see

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

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,

Sleep Better

Physical Activity Prescription: The Global Goal

Evan Stevens Based on a talk by Jane Thornton at Take Control of Your Health/Wellness – Exercise Nutrition Symposium, University of Western Ontario It has long been known that physical activity can help prevent, mitigate, and even improve chronic disease. Forever Fit Science wouldn’t exist if physical activity caused disease, and you wouldn’t be reading

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,

It’s Never Too Late: The Benefits of High Intensity Exercise for Dementia

Contributed by Fiona Callender, Research Assistant, University of Toronto We are all connected to someone who suffers from one form of dementia or another – whether it is directly or through caregivers, friends or relatives. With incidence rising, and Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia now being the leading cause of disability and death in

Brain Growth with Exercise

Brain Growth with Exercise

Contributed by Julia C. Basso, PhD, Post-doctoral Research Associate at the Center for Neural Science and New York University Brain Growth with Exercise The hippocampus, a seahorse-shaped structure located in the medial (middle) temporal lobe, is a brain area involved in learning and memory.  This structure is essential for the formation of our long-term memories as