recovery time Archives - Amazing Health Advances

How Often Do You Need to Exercise to Get in Shape?

AHA Publisher — Mon, 11 Oct 2021 07:00:12 +0000

WALLA! via The Jerusalem Post – Professional athletes train a lot, between 10 and 14 workouts a week. This is more than a workout a day, and most days they work out twice. But for ordinary people, who don’t train for international competitions, but just want to get in shape or keep fit, such a hectic training schedule is unnecessary. Most of us can settle for much less training – but how much less? Is two workouts a week enough? Three? And what if someone can only cram one workout into their weekly schedule, is it effective at all? The frequency of training doesn’t stand on its own and is influenced by other factors: What’s the purpose of the exercise? How intense do you want to work out? Do you have a history of injuries? The type of training or sport you do also affects how often you need to practice to get the best results. Exercise creates stress and strain on some body systems, which makes you feel tired, yet it can also make the body stronger, depending on the type of stress that the training produces. For example, resistance training (weight training, for instance) helps the body build muscle strength, but is less conducive for cardio-pulmonary endurance, because it focuses on the skeletal muscles and not the heart. But to even see specific benefits of each workout, rest is required. You’ll have a hard time seeing a physiological improvement from working out if you don’t rest enough. Also, if we don’t take breaks to recover the physical loads in regular and frequent training, improvement won’t last. So, the body should be given time to rest between workouts … but not too much time. In short: the key to improving physical fitness is to train at regular intervals which will find the right balance between frequency of training and the required recovery time. To read the original article click here.

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COVID-19 Patients Recover Faster With Metabolic Activator Treatment, Study Shows

AHA Publisher — Tue, 29 Jun 2021 07:00:43 +0000

Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan (KTH) [Royal Institute of Technology] via Newswise – Metabolic activators were found to reduce recovery time by as many as 3.5 days in patients with mild-to-moderate Covid-19, according to a Swedish-British study published today in Advanced Science. The researchers also found that treatment with the metabolic activators improved liver health and decreased the levels of inflammation, as shown by inflammatory markers. Conducted by researchers at Science for Life Laboratory at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, in collaboration with the Sahlgrenska Academy in Gothenburg and King’s College, London, the human phase three clinical study showed that patients with mild-to-moderate Covid-19–who were also receiving standard care–experienced a 3.5 day reduction in recovery time when receiving the combination of metabolic activators, nicotinamide riboside (NR), L-serine, N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC), and L-carnitine tartrate. All four activators are aimed at improving mitochondrial function. The results of the study build on findings from phase two clinical data. Through a randomized, placebo controlled, double blind phase three clinical trial, 309 outpatients at Umraniye Teaching and Research Hospital, University of Health Sciences, Istanbul, Turkey were randomly assigned on a 3:1 basis to receive the metabolic activators or placebo. Patients received the combined activators or placebo twice a day for 14 days and clinical status was evaluated through daily telephone check-ins. “Our phase three data shows that metabolic activators significantly improve the recovery, liver health, and markers of inflammation of patients with COVID-19,” says the study’s lead author, Adil Mardinoglu, professor at KTH and Kings College and research fellow at Science for Life Laboratory. “Dysfunctional mitochondria have been implicated in worsened progression for Covid-19, and we are pleased to find that the combination of these metabolic activators helps to remedy the stress put on the body of an infected patient.” To read the original article click here.

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Hospitalizations Rise in Coronavirus Surge, but Death Rate Is Much Lower Than It Once Was

AHA Publisher — Wed, 28 Oct 2020 07:00:13 +0000

News Staff via CBN News – Coronavirus cases are rising again here in the US, as well as in multiple other countries in Europe. Many experts had expected the virus to surge again when the weather cooled down. Last week the seven-day average for new COVID cases hit its highest level on record with 16 states also hitting record hospitalizations. The only bright spot in an otherwise dreary outlook for COVID is that the death rate is much lower now. CBN News Medical Correspondent Lorie Johnson says the drop in the death rate is very clear among those who have been hospitalized. “The death rate has really gone down from 25 percent down to 7 percent. These are people who are hospitalized for coronavirus. So that’s down 18 percent, and that’s wonderful news,” she explained. Johnson says improved therapeutics and treatments are helping decrease the death rate. The broader percentage has also gotten better as the number of people tested increases. Right now Johnson says there are about a million people tested each day in the US. “The death rate is based on how many people test positive, out of that number how many people die from it and at the very beginning of the pandemic usually the only people who were tested were those who were very sick, and reported to the hospital.” For young people, 99.9 percent of them recover just fine from the virus. Still, the increasing number of cases is putting a strain on many hospitals with some not having enough space or staff to handle new patients. Data from the COVID Tracking Project shows that nationwide, in cases where race is known, black people are dying at 2.3 times the rate of white people. And while those who live in nursing homes make up 1 percent of the population, they make up 41 percent of COVID deaths. To read the original article click here. For more articles from CBN News click here.

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FDA Approves First COVID-19 Drug: Antiviral Remdesivir

AHA Publisher — Mon, 26 Oct 2020 07:00:56 +0000

Associated Press via CBN News – US regulators on Thursday approved the first drug to treat COVID-19: remdesivir, an antiviral medicine given to hospitalized patients through an IV. The drug, which California-based Gilead Sciences Inc. is calling Veklury, cut the time to recovery by five days — from 15 days to 10 on average — in a large study led by the U.S. National Institutes of Health. It had been authorized for use on an emergency basis since spring, and now becomes the first drug to win full Food and Drug Administration approval for treating COVID-19. President Donald Trump received it when he was sickened earlier this month. Veklury is approved for people at least 12 years old and weighing at least 88 pounds (40 kilograms) who are hospitalized for a coronavirus infection. For patients younger than 12, the FDA will still allow the drug’s use in certain cases under its previous emergency authorization. The drug works by inhibiting a substance the virus uses to make copies of itself. Certain kidney and liver tests are required before starting patients on it to ensure it’s safe for them and to monitor for any possible side effects. And the label warns against using it with the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine, because that can curb its effectiveness. “We now have enough knowledge and a growing set of tools to help fight COVID-19,” Gilead’s chief medical officer, Dr. Merdad Parsey, said in a statement. The drug is either approved or has temporary authorization in about 50 countries, he noted. Its price has been controversial, given that no studies have found it improves survival. Last week, a large study led by the World Health Organization found the drug did not help hospitalized COVID-19 patients, but that study did not include a placebo group and was less rigorous than previous ones that found a benefit. The FDA’s approval statement noted that, besides the NIH-led one, two other studies found the drug beneficial. Gilead charges $2,340 for a typical treatment course for people covered by government health programs in the United States and other developed countries, and $3,120 for patients with private insurance. The amount that patients pay out of pocket depends on insurance, income, and other factors. So far, only steroids such as dexamethasone have been shown to cut the risk of dying of COVID-19. The FDA also has given emergency authorization to using the blood of survivors, and two companies are currently seeking similar authorization for experimental antibody drugs. To read the original article click here. For more articles from CBN News click here.

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The Role of Nutrition in Recovery from COVID-19

AHA Publisher — Mon, 29 Jun 2020 07:00:54 +0000

By Emily Henderson, B.Sc. via News-Medical Net – Dr. Riccardo Caccialanza speaks to News-Medical about his research on the role of nutrition in recovering from COVID-19 and how implementing nutritional support early on can make a significant difference to patient recovery time. What has led you to explore the importance of nutrition in COVID-19 recovery? There is little practical clinical guidance for nutritional care during recovery of COVID-19, even though it can impact recovery time and people’s ability to return to doing the things that matter most to them. Nutrition is vital for maintaining skeletal muscle and avoiding metabolic disturbances and when patients are spending around two weeks in ICU, these can become very serious issues. Respiratory difficulties add an extra layer of complexity, preventing patients from eating effectively. A huge proportion of the patients we have treated required assisted ventilation, making it difficult to provide food and oral supplements. This has meant that nutrition has had to become an important part of COVID-19 patients’ recovery. What is the aim of your research? My research in Italy is being supported by a grant from Nutricia*. My research aims to better understand the fundamental role of nutritional status and medical nutrition on treatment and recovery outcomes. I hope the research outcomes will ultimately result in the adoption of practical guidelines on integrating nutritional care in the treatment and rehabilitation of patients. Why is there a lack of knowledge on appropriate rehabilitation after significant ICU stays, such as those of critically ill COVID-19 patients? The focus is often on helping patients whether it is through the acute phase of critical illness, for healthcare professionals like myself, as well as the patient and their family, it is a huge relief when they can be discharged. The long-term impact of their stay in intensive care is sometimes underestimated though, which might impact how well rehabilitation requirements are understood. What complications are being seen in COVID-19 patients that are leading to long recovery periods? The care for critically ill COVID 19 patients is similar to that for patients diagnosed with viral pneumonia-causing respiratory failure. What is different though, is that critically ill COVID-19 patients are often admitted to ICUs for a very long time, extending up to 2-3 weeks. We know from other patient groups in ICUs who require intubation, that oral nutrition intake can be inadequate after extubation. People might not be able to eat enough food to meet their nutritional needs during recovery, contributing to further loss of lean muscle – which could occur in ICU at the rate of up to 1kg per day. Muscle wasting is the most common complication of critical illness, occurring in up to 50% of patients, which can seriously lengthen recovery times, impaired immunity, increase infection risk and cause the development of wounds and pressure ulcers. For some, even mortality. In the early days of the pandemic, most of the patients quickly deteriorated, meaning they required immediate respiratory assistance. So, most stopped eating as soon as they were admitted to the hospital and they were also unable to tolerate oral nutrition support. As the pandemic has progressed, we are increasingly seeing very elderly patients and those suffering from underlying health conditions, like obesity and diabetes. For these patient groups, nutrition is extremely complex. It is difficult to keep these patients in a stable condition, and what makes the difference in this balance is appropriate and timely nutrition support. How could appropriate nutrition improve recovery? Being discharged from the ICU is only the start of a recovery, and medical nutrition when integrated in patient recovery programs can positively impact recovery outcomes, as well as the quality of life of patients. We already know that medical nutrition can positively contribute to clinical outcomes with a variety of conditions and diseases. Unfortunately, healthcare professional awareness of the role of medical nutrition is still low. There is little practical clinical guidance for nutritional care during recovery of COVID-19, even though it can impact recovery time and people’s ability to return to doing the things that matter most to them. I hope the research will contribute to the development of such guidance. How could your research be used to provide successful in-hospital rehabilitation programs? Challenges exist in integrating nutrition into treatment and recovery plans in most diseases. It might seem obvious, but unfortunately, nutrition is still widely overlooked in the hospital setting. Generally speaking, it is much easier to integrate nutrition into a recovery plan. In the experience of COVID-19, the virus is disproportionately affecting the fragile elderly and those who are overweight or obese with diabetes and hypertension. These are two very different population groups, but what links them is the need for nutritional intervention. For those who have spent a significant length of time in ICU and on ventilators, we can already see the positive results when nutrition is part of both a patient’s treatment and recovery plan. I think our experience can really help in making nutrition a greater medical priority, for both in-hospital rehabilitation and in post-discharge community recovery. What do you expect will be needed in terms of longer-term care for patients who have been critically ill from COVID? What we have been experiencing is that when nutritional support is implemented in the early stages of any pathological condition treatment, including COVID19, it can make a real difference to patient recovery time. Nutrition is vital for maintaining skeletal muscle and avoiding metabolic disturbances – when patients are spending around two weeks in ICU, these can become very serious issues. Respiratory difficulties add an extra layer of complexity, preventing patients from eating effectively. A huge proportion of the patients we treated required assisted ventilation, making it difficult to provide food and oral supplements. When thinking longer-term, what is needed is for nutrition to become more of a medical priority so that it is part of the treatment and recovery program, not just the latter. What is your advice for people recuperating from less serious COVID-19 cases for a quick and safe recovery? It is important people recovering from less severe COVID-19 infections take the time to recover, rest, and eat well, which means to be conscious that adequate eating is part of their recovery not to be overlooked. From a nutritional standpoint, how has this virus and its aftermath compared to other illnesses you work with? We know that for many other diseases and conditions nutrition plays a vital role in patient recovery and health. While the scale and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has been unprecedented and our understanding of the disease is developing, there are many elements of how it affects patients that are similar to other conditions, like lung infections and, more generally inflammatory diseases. If nutritional care is integrated in their recovery programs it can certainly positively impact clinical outcomes as well as the quality of life of patients. Do you think your research will improve awareness of the importance of applying nutritional knowledge to dealing with viruses and their recovery in general? Nutrition is critical for reducing the burden of comorbidities. This is a burden we must have control over in general, but in the case of COVID-19, we are still not sure whether there will be a second wave of the virus. Our preliminary analysis clearly shows that the majority of patients admitted with COVID-19 have a vitamin D deficiency. It is of course too early to speculate whether this could be a reason why patients suffer particularly badly from the effects of the virus. But we do know that Vitamin D levels are important for general health. Biochemical and epidemiological background tells us that Vitamin D deficiency is associated with the incidence of some cancers and cardiovascular diseases, for example. So, I hope that COVID-19 and that research, such as my own and the other studies, are seen and taken as our chance to develop a well-designed preventive campaign that puts nutrition and tailored vitamin supplementation at the core of preventative medicine. Could your research be used to help deal with future pandemics effectively? Yes, definitely. Discharge from the intensive care unit is often only the start of patient recovery. The longer a patient has been required to remain in ICU the greater the need for medical nutrition in their recovery plan. If through the experience of COVID-19, we can implement practical clinical guidelines for nutritional care, then I am certain it will help us be more prepared for the full care journey from diagnosis to complete recovery (where possible) in future pandemics. The lessons we learn here will accelerate our ability to respond to future outbreaks of both known and novel diseases. What is the next step for your research? We are coordinating an Italian multicentre study to research the impact of nutritional status and in-hospital nutritional support on the outcomes of the two most impacted patient groups – the elderly and those who were overweight or obese at admission. It is a simple observational study in which we will collect nutritional information in about 11 hospitals across Italy. The study uses data collected in ‘normal’ clinical routine, such as blood tests, BMI, details of nutritional support provided as part of a treatment plan, and of course the clinical outcomes of each patient. We have already received early data from the study, and I am confident we will have a pretty good idea of medical nutrition’s impact on patient outcomes in a relatively short period. To read the original article click here.

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