Composed Salad with Apple Balsamic Vinaigrette Recipe, Spotlight on Salad Greens, A Monthly 5-day Modified Fast to Boost Longevity and A Surprising Advantage of Exercise 

Composed salad—only the name of this dish sounds tricky. It’s actually a simple technique to arrange ingredients in a beautiful display and let everyone pick and choose what to put on their own plate. I’ve provided suggestions, but you get to pick your culinary adventure! 

Club members know that I believe in nourishing the body with healthful foods (that’s why sourcing fresh-pressed olive oil brimming with polyphenols is so important to me!). And in turn, the body can enrich us in remarkable ways. Two studies provide astounding food for thought to prove that point. The first is a new approach to intermittent fasting, and the second shows how bookmarking learning something new with bouts of physical exercise can help you retain the new information. Enjoy these fascinating reads.

Composed Salad with Apple Balsamic Vinaigrette

• Composed Salad with Apple Balsamic Vinaigrette

  Sounds complicated and even more exotic in its original French—“salade composée”—but a composed salad is nothing more than an artful way to arrange your ingredients rather than tossing them together. Salade Niçoise and Cobb salad are two that are typically presented this way, but a composed salad can be made of any ingredients you choose—and it’s a great way to showcase fresh seasonal vegetables and even fruits. The following ingredients and directions are merely guidelines—let your imagination be your guide and remember that unusual combos can be delicious. Whatever you choose should have a flavorful dressing, so I’m including the recipe for one of my favorite vinaigrettes. It uses apple balsamic vinegar, a great change from classic balsamic of Modena.

  Ingredients

  For the vinaigrette:

  • 1⁄4 cup Apple Balsamic Vinegar
  • 1⁄4 teaspoon dried basil leaves, crushed 
  • 1 small shallot, minced 
  • 1 garlic clove, minced 
  • Pinch red pepper flakes
  • 1⁄2 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

  For the platter, choose any combination:

  • Protein: pick 1 or 2, such as sliced chicken, hard-boiled egg halves, or strips of prosciutto
  • Cheese: pick 1 or 2 such as cubes of fresh mozzarella or aged Parmigiano-Reggiano, or thin rounds of goat cheese
  • Greens: pick 1 lettuce or another leafy green, like arugula or baby spinach
  • Vegetables: pick 3 or 4, raw, steamed, or grilled, such as asparagus, cherry tomatoes, and string beans
  • Fruit and nuts: pick 1 or more, such as grapes, apple or pear slices, raisins or another dried fruit, avocado, and almonds or walnuts 
  • Legumes: pick 1, such as cooked beans or chickpeas

  Directions

  Step 1

  Make the vinaigrette: In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the vinegar, basil, shallot, garlic, and red pepper flakes. Gradually whisk in the olive oil until the dressing is emulsified. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

  Step 2

  Compose your salad: Rinse and pat dry all raw ingredients. Cut all ingredients into bite-size pieces or thin slices. Lettuces and other greens can be sliced into ribbons. Choose a large platter and place one ingredient at a time, going from left to right. 

  Step 3

  Place the vinaigrette on the side so each person can add as much or as little as they want.

  Yields 4 servings

Healthy Ingredient Spotlight

Salad Greens 

I’m a fan of varying the greens in my salads rather than sticking to one type every time. This choice goes beyond taste—each green has a different nutrient profile, so mixing it up means you get a wider range of vitamins, minerals, and other phytochemicals. Here are some choices to put in your own personal rotation.

Iceberg is one of the few lettuces that comes in a very compact head; another is romaine. The leaves of the more delicate butterhead and Boston lettuces are more loosely held together. Red or green loose-leaf lettuce and escarole aren’t compact at all.  

Many greens are sold as leaves, bundled or loose, including watercress, Swiss chard, arugula, baby spinach, and dandelion greens. Some leaves, like kale, have rigid spines or stems that you might want to remove if eating raw but that soften when cooked. 

All greens are a good source of fiber and water. Romaine and spinach have the highest amounts of vitamin A and folate (a B vitamin), spinach and Swiss chard are highest in vitamin K and potassium, and kale and spinach take top honors for calcium.

Quick Kitchen Nugget

Storing Salad Greens

For Your Best Health

A Monthly 5-day Modified Fast to Boost Longevity

We’ve shared reports of studies showing that you may be able to reduce inflammation and better ward off diseases with intermittent fasting—eating fewer than 500 calories on two days of every week or limiting eating to an 8- or 10-hour daily window. Recently, a University of Southern California Leonard Davis School of Gerontology-led study, published in the journal Nature Communications, found that one five-day monthly cycle of a diet that mimics fasting, known as a fasting-mimicking diet (FMD), can reduce signs of immune system aging, as well as insulin resistance and liver fat, resulting in a lower “biological” age—a measure of how well your cells and tissues are functioning regardless of your chronological age.

The FMD, developed by Valter Longo, PhD, the study’s senior author and professor at the USC Leonard Davis School, is high in unsaturated fats and low in overall calories, protein, and carbohydrates. It’s designed to mimic the effects of a water-only fast while still providing necessary nutrients and making it much easier for people to complete. 

“This is the first study to show that a food-based intervention that does not require chronic dietary or other lifestyle changes can make people biologically younger, based both on changes in risk factors for aging and disease and on a validated method developed by the Levine group to assess biological age,” Dr. Longo said. (The Levine group, led by Morgan Levine, PhD, designs tools just to measure biological age.) 

Previous research led by Longo indicated that brief, periodic FMD cycles are associated with a range of beneficial effects, such as promoting stem cell regeneration, easing chemotherapy side effects, and reducing the signs of dementia in mice. Dr. Longo’s lab also had previously shown that one or two cycles of the FMD for five days a month increased the health span and lifespan of mice on either a normal or a Western diet, but the effects of the FMD on aging and biological age, liver fat, and immune system aging in humans were unknown until now. In addition, the FMD cycles can lower the risk factors for cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and other age-related diseases in people.

The study analyzed the diet’s effects in two clinical trial populations, each with men and women between the ages of 18 and 70. Patients who were randomized to the fasting-mimicking diet underwent 3-4 monthly cycles, adhering to the FMD for 5 days, then ate a normal diet for 25 days. The FMD is comprised of plant-based soups, energy bars, energy drinks, chip snacks, and tea plus a supplement providing high levels of minerals, vitamins, and essential fatty acids. 

An analysis of blood samples from trial participants showed that those in the FMD group had lower diabetes risk factors, including less insulin resistance and lower HbA1c results. Magnetic resonance imaging also revealed a decrease in abdominal fat as well as fat within the liver, improvements associated with a reduced risk of metabolic syndrome. In addition, the FMD cycles appeared to increase the lymphoid-to-myeloid ratio, an indicator of a more youthful immune system. Further statistical analysis of the results showed that FMD participants had reduced their biological age by 2.5 years on average.

“This study shows for the first time evidence for biological age reduction from two different clinical trials, accompanied by evidence of rejuvenation of metabolic and immune function,” Dr. Longo said. It lends more support to the FMD’s potential as a short-term periodic, achievable dietary intervention that can help people lessen their disease risk and improve their health without extensive lifestyle changes, he added.

“Although many doctors are already recommending the FMD in the United States and Europe, these findings should encourage many more healthcare professionals to recommend FMD cycles to patients with higher-than-desired levels of disease risk factors as well as to the general population that may be interested in increased function and younger age,” said Dr. Longo.

Fitness Flash

A Surprising Advantage of Exercise 

Looking to improve your fine motor skills? You can benefit from physical exercise both before and after practicing these skills, according to new research from the department of nutrition, exercise, and sports at the University of Copenhagen. This finding also can, among other things, make the way we rehabilitate more effective.

Before a violinist wants to learn a new piece or a surgeon stands at the training table to learn a new surgical technique, they might consider heading out for a bike ride or run. Once they’ve practiced the new skill, there’s good reason to put on their workout attire again. Indeed, being physically active and elevating one’s heart rate has the wonderful side effect of improving our ability to learn by increasing the brain’s ability to remember, stated the researchers. They showed that this effect also applies to the formation of motor memory, enabling us to recall and perform tasks such as riding a bike, driving a car, and lacing up our shoes, almost automatically.

“Our results demonstrate that there is a clear effect across the board. If you exercise before learning a skill, you will improve and remember what you have learned better. The same applies if you exercise after learning,” said Lasse Jespersen, PhD, first author of the study. Specifically, the researchers found around 10% improvement in people’s ability to remember a newly learned motor skill when exercise is included either before or after the new skill. “But our research shows that the greatest effect is achieved if you exercise both before and after,” Dr. Jespersen added.

“This is probably because physical activity increases the brain’s ability to change, which is a prerequisite for remembering,” explained co-author Jesper Lundbye-Jensen, PhD, who heads the department’s movement and neuroscience section. Specific parts of the brain are activated when a person engages in motor practice that requires the acquisition of fine motor skills. If the task is an activity that one knows well, like riding a bicycle, the centers are less active, but that all changes when learning something new. The brain undergoes actual changes, something that is essential for our ability to learn and remember new skills, a phenomenon known as brain plasticity. These changes occur not only while the new skill is acquired through practice but also in the hours after, when the memory is consolidated. This is why it is meaningful to be physically active even after we’ve engaged in something new.

The effect applies to everyone, including children, adolescents, and older adults, and in particular anyone who regularly needs to learn new skills. Moreover, the effects may hold significance for individuals undergoing rehabilitation, aiming to recover mobility and lost motor skills. 

“Typically, rehabilitation is divided between two or three different disciplines. In practice, this may mean that Mr. Smith will have physical training with a physiotherapist on one day, work with an ergonomist the next, and train cognitive abilities with a psychologist on the third. Our research suggests that it could be wise to plan rehabilitation so that these areas are considered together, as doing so could have a synergistic effect,” explained Dr. Lundbye-Jensen. “Coming back often entails hard work, and even slight improvements in efficiency can mean a lot to people in that situation.”

Sixty-seven test subjects were involved in the research project. To ensure comparable data, all subjects were young men between the ages of 18 and 35 who were not physically or mentally impaired in ways that could limit their learning ability and physical performance.

The researchers examined the subjects’ behavior and performance while reviewing one of four possible scenarios. First, the subjects either rested or exercised moderately on a bicycle. After that, they were subjected to a fine motor task in the form of a simple computer game that, with a small device on their fingertips, challenged and practiced their motor dexterity.

Next, they either exercised intensely on a fitness bike or rested. That meant there was one group that rested both before and after, one that trained both times, and two that trained once, either before or after. Their skill level and memory were tested again after seven days to assess whether what they had learned stuck.

As a somewhat unusual criterion, professional musicians and gamers were excluded as possible participants. “People with extensive experience in practicing motor skills typically start at a different level. While the motor task used in the research study was unknown to all, involving experts would have changed the dynamic from the get-go. But that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t benefit from the effects we’ve shown. To the contrary, in a future study, it could be exciting to investigate how exercise affects people with elite-level fine motor skills,” said Dr. Jespersen.

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Philly-Style Cheesesteak Recipe, Spotlight on Flank Steak, How to Halve Avocados, New Lenses for Better Vision and Benefits of Walking in Nature

I love to “healthify” recipes that are delicious but could use a refresh, one that preserves their taste and lowers the guilt quotient over eating them. Philly cheesesteak is a great example—and this recipe comes together very quickly. I’m also sharing news about a potential revolution in corrective lenses that could have you seeing more clearly in the future, along with the latest study about the advantages of walking in nature—and why it’s better than a track or treadmill.

Philly-Style Cheesesteak

• Philly-Style Cheesesteaks

  While delicious and beloved, the classic sandwich is somewhat of a greasy hot mess. With just a few tweaks, including a leaner cut of meat than usual and polyphenol-rich olive oil, it becomes a satisfying meal with a better health profile. If you prefer, swap mozzarella for the provolone.

  Ingredients

  • 1-1/2 pounds flank steak
  • 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided use
  • 1 teaspoon coarse sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 
  • 2 thin baguettes or 4 seeded rolls, whole grain if possible 
  • Dijon mustard
  • 8 slices provolone cheese 
  • 1 large yellow onion, sliced thinly 
  • 1 large green or red bell pepper, cored and thinly sliced

  Directions

  Step 1

  Prep the flank steak: To make the meat easier to thinly slice, place it in the freezer for 45-60 minutes to firm it up and get it frosty, but not to the point it’s frozen. For already frozen meat that you’re defrosting, slice before it thaws out completely. While you’re waiting, set out a platter and grab your raw meat-only cutting board and a sharp chef’s knife. (As an alternative, you can use the thin-slice blade of your food processor and work with chunks that will fit into the spout.) When the meat is ready, slice it against the grain—in the opposite direction of the meat fibers. Toss in a bowl with 1 tablespoon olive oil, salt, and pepper, and set aside.

  Step 2

  Cut each baguette in half and then slice each bread section about three-quarters of the way through. For each sandwich, spread mustard on one side of the bread and layer on the provolone.

  Step 3

  Heat a large frying pan over medium-high heat. When hot, add 2 tablespoons olive oil and the onion and bell pepper slices; lower the heat and slow-cook until the onions are fully caramelized. Use a large slotted spoon to move the veggies to a bowl. 

  Step 4

  Raise the heat back to medium-high and then add the rest of the olive oil. Add the meat (work in batches if needed to avoid crowding). Sear the meat, then use tongs to flip each piece and continue to sauté until well cooked with the edges slightly crispy.  

  Step 5

  To finish assembling the sandwiches, place equal amounts of the hot meat over the cheese—the heat will melt it. Top each with a generous amount of onions and peppers and a drizzle of olive oil.

  Yields 4 servings

Healthy Ingredient Spotlight

Flank Steak

Spoiler alert: Flank steak is not actually a steak, yet it’s still a flavorful cut of beef and quite affordable. Because it’s lean, it can be tough if not properly cooked. If you have a flank steak recipe, such as London broil, that calls for cooking an entire piece (rather than precutting it into thin slices), three things make all the difference: a long (overnight) marination, a fast grilling (or a very slow braise for a dish like brisket, which will also tenderize it), and slicing it against the grain—in the opposite direction of its meat fibers.

Quick Kitchen Nugget

Timely Warning: What Not to do to Avocado Halves

For Your Best Health

New Lenses for Better Vision 

Do you ever feel as though your progressives aren’t giving you the visual range you need? A better lens may be at hand. Researchers have developed a spiral-shaped lens that maintains clear focus at different distances in varying light conditions. It works much like progressive lenses used for vision correction but without the distortions typically seen with those lenses. It could help advance contact lens technologies, intraocular implants for cataracts, and miniaturized imaging systems.

“Unlike existing multifocal lenses, our lens performs well under a wide range of light conditions and maintains multifocality regardless of the size of the pupil,” said Bertrand Simon, PhD, from Photonics, Numerical and Nanosciences Laboratory, a joint research unit of the Institut d’Optique Graduate School, the University of Bordeaux, and the National Centre for Scientific Research in France. “For potential implant users or people with age-related farsightedness, it could provide consistently clear vision, potentially revolutionizing ophthalmology.”

In Optica, Optica Publishing Group’s journal for high-impact research, the researchers describe the new lens, which they call the spiral diopter. Its spiraling features are arranged in a way that creates many separate points of focus, much like having multiple lenses in one. This makes it possible to see clearly at various distances.

The inspiration for the spiral lens design came when the paper’s first author, Laurent Galinier from SPIRAL SAS in France, was analyzing the optical properties of severe corneal deformations in patients. This led him to conceptualize a lens with a unique spiral design that causes light to spin like water going down a drain. This phenomenon, known as an optical vortex, creates multiple clear focus points, which allow the lens to provide clear focus at different distances.

“Creating an optical vortex usually requires multiple optical components,” said Galinier. “Our lens, however, incorporates the elements necessary to make an optical vortex directly in its surface. Creating optical vortices is a thriving field of research, but our method simplifies the process, marking a significant advancement in the field of optics.” Volunteers using the lenses reported noticeable improvements in visual acuity at a variety of distances and lighting conditions.

The researchers are now working to better understand the unique optical vortices produced by their lens. They also plan to perform systematic trials of the lens’ ability to correct vision in people to comprehensively establish its performance and advantages in real-world conditions. In addition, they are exploring the possibility of applying the concept to prescription eyeglasses, which could potentially offer users clear vision across multiple distances.

“This new lens could significantly improve people’s depth of vision under changing lighting conditions,” said Dr. Simon. “Future developments with this technology might also lead to advancements in compact imaging technologies, wearable devices and remote sensing systems for drones or self-driving cars, which could make them more reliable and efficient.”

Fitness Flash

The Multiple Benefits of Walking in Nature

New work from University of Utah psychology researchers is helping prove what American authors John Muir and Henry David Thoreau said more than 150 years ago: Time spent in nature is good for the heart and soul. Amy McDonnell, PhD, and David Strayer, PhD, are showing it’s good for your brain, too. Their study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, used electroencephalography (EEG), which records electrical activity in the brain with small discs attached to the scalp, to measure participants’ attentional capacity. They found that a walk in nature enhances certain executive control processes in the brain above and beyond the accepted benefits associated with exercise. The University itself has recently established a new research group, Nature and Human Health Utah, to explore these issues and propose solutions for bridging the human-nature divide.

Many researchers suspect that a primal need for nature is baked into our DNA, and diminishing access to nature puts good health at risk. “There’s an idea called biophilia that basically says that our evolution over hundreds of thousands of years has gotten us to have more of a connection or a love of natural living things,” said Dr. Strayer, a professor of psychology. “And our modern urban environment has become this dense urban jungle with cell phones and cars and computers and traffic, just the opposite of that kind of restorative environment.” Dr. Strayer’s past research into multitasking and distracted driving associated with cellphone use has drawn national attention. For the past decade, his lab has focused on how nature affects cognition. 

For this study, the researchers analyzed EEG data recorded on each of 92 participants immediately before and after they undertook a 40-minute walk. They started out by having participants do a complex cognitive task—counting backwards from 1,000 by sevens. “No matter how good you are at mental math, it gets pretty draining after 10 minutes,” Dr. McDonnell said. Right after that, they were given an attention task. The idea was to deplete the participants’ attentional reserves before doing the task and going for the walk, which they did without any electronic devices or talking to anyone along the way. Participants were randomly selected to walk through either the least built-up part of the Red Butte Garden, an arboretum in the foothills just east of the University, or the adjacent medical campus and parking lots. Both routes covered two miles at similar elevations.

“The participants that had walked in nature showed an improvement in their executive attention on that task, whereas the urban walkers did not, so then we know it’s something unique about the environment that you’re walking in,” Dr. McDonnell said. “We know exercise benefits executive attention as well, so we wanted to make sure both groups have comparable amounts of exercise.”

What sets this study apart from much of the existing research is its reliance on EEG data as opposed to surveys and self-reporting, which do yield helpful information but can be highly subjective. “This is probably one of the most rigorous studies in terms of controlling for and making sure that it’s really the exposure in Red Butte” resulting in the observed cognitive effects, Dr. Strayer said.

The EEG data revealed three components of attention: alerting, orienting, and executive control. Executive control occurs in the brain’s prefrontal cortex, an area critical for working memory, decision-making, problem-solving, and coordinating disparate tasks. “The kinds of things that we do on an everyday basis tend to heavily use those executive attentional networks,” Dr. Strayer said. “It’s important in concentration, so it’s an essential component of higher-order thinking.”

While the EEG and attention task results did not show much of a difference for alertness and orientation between the garden and the asphalt walkers, those on the nature walk exhibited improved executive control. Drs. McDonnell and Strayer hope the findings can be refined to show what kind of natural settings result in optimal cognitive benefits and how much exposure is needed to help.

Dr. Strayer studies both distraction and attention, which he sees as opposing sides of the same coin. “It’s where the prefrontal cortex is overloaded, overstimulated, and you make all kinds of dangerous mistakes when you’re multitasking behind the wheel,” he said. “But the antidote to that is being out in a natural environment—leave the phone in your pocket and go out and walk the trails. The parts of the brain that have been overused during the daily commute are restored. You see and think more clearly.”

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Chilaquiles with Fried Eggs Recipe, Spotlight on Salsa and Homemade Chips, Emotional Healing After a Loss and A Woman’s Edge When it Comes to Exercise

Mediterranean recipes aren’t the only ones enhanced by extra virgin olive oil. I love to use it in all my dishes, from Asian to South American and all points in between. In fact, even recipes that call for a “neutral” oil will be more flavorful with EVOO. My chilaquiles are the perfect example, and when you use olive oil to make this zesty tortilla chip breakfast, you’ll also get the health benefits of its polyphenols. In this edition of the newsletter, I’m also sharing a new study’s strategies for coping with grief, something we will all face at different points in our lives, as well as research on the different exercise needs of men and women.

Chilaquiles with Fried Eggs

• Chilaquiles with Fried Eggs

  This Mexican dish, which dates back to the early Aztecs, is as delicious as it is easy to make. My fast-and-furious version uses prepared salsa and packaged tortilla chips for the quickest prep, but if you have a few extra minutes, it’s even more amazing when you make your own chips (see Quick Kitchen Nugget) and salsa—click to check out my salsa recipes. I love chilaquiles with fried eggs, but you can personalize your dish with another protein or beans. 

  Ingredients

  • 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided use, plus more for drizzling
  • 1 small onion, slivered
  • 12 cherry tomatoes, halved
  • 2 cups salsa (about 32 ounces), red or green
  • 4 cups tortilla chips
  • 4 large eggs
  • 4 ounces queso fresco or cotija cheese, crumbled
  • 1 avocado, cut into small chunks
  • 1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
  • Hot sauce 
  • Sour cream

  Directions

  Step 1

  Heat a very large frying pan and, when hot, add 2 tablespoons olive oil, the onions, and the tomatoes. Sauté until the onions soften. Pour in the salsa and heat through. Add the chips and stir to coat; allow them to soften over low heat while you make the eggs.

  Step 2

  Heat a rimmed griddle over high heat and, when hot, pour in the remaining olive oil. Crack each egg into a separate area of the griddle and allow to fry, undisturbed, for 3 minutes.

  Step 3

  Spoon servings of the chilaquiles onto 4 plates and top with equal amounts of cheese, avocado, and cilantro. Use a wide spatula to top each portion with a fried egg and then drizzle with olive oil. Pass hot sauce and sour cream on the side.

  Yields 4 servings

Healthy Ingredient Spotlight

Choosing Salsa

There’s no shortage of jarred salsas on supermarket shelves, and many are excellent alternatives to making your own. Read labels and choose brands with only the essentials—typically tomatoes, onions, chiles, garlic, vinegar, cilantro, and spices. Steer clear of any artificial flavors—the core ingredients should have enough flavor on their own! Also, pay special attention to the salt content so you don’t go over nutritional guidelines. 

Quick Kitchen Nugget

Homemade Chips

Originally, chilaquiles were created as a way to use leftover fresh tortillas, and if you can spare the time, making your own chips is a great way to go. Start with a stack of twelve 6-inch blue or yellow corn tortillas. Cut them into 6 triangles, place them in a bowl, and toss them with a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil. Line two rimmed sheet pans with parchment paper and arrange the tortilla pieces in one layer in the pans. Sprinkle lightly with coarse sea salt and bake at 350°F for 10 minutes, flip, and bake for another 5 minutes.

For Your Best Health

Emotional Healing After a Loss 

Navigating the turmoil of losing a loved one is one of the most emotional—and universal—life experiences we go through. Grieving is different for each of us, and there’s no one healing road map or timetable to follow. But a new study found that there are simple activities that can help improve mood and emotional well-being.

“We were conducting a larger study that looked at how daily behaviors affect emotional well-being and day-to-day functioning, and we realized that a significant number of study participants were dealing with the traumatic loss of a loved one,” said Shevaun Neupert, PhD, the study’s corresponding author and a professor of psychology at NC State University. “Our study suggests there are specific things people can do to bolster their emotional well-being following a traumatic loss. This gave us an opportunity to gain insights into how daily behaviors in the wake of a loss can influence our emotional well-being.”

For the study, researchers worked with data from 440 adults between the ages of 50 and 85, and 356 of those participants reported the traumatic loss of a loved one. Study participants completed a daily diary survey for 14 consecutive days with questions designed to document changes in each of their day-to-day lived experiences and mood.

“The survey questions also helped us capture information related to subjective age, or how old people report feeling each day,” Dr. Neupert said. “Do they feel older than they actually are? Younger? And how does that correlate to their mood or emotional well-being?”

“One of the study’s big findings is that activities we call ‘uplifts’ can have a significant impact,” says Ali Early, co-author of the study and a former undergraduate at NC State. Uplifts are activities that can improve our mood, such as completing a task, getting enough sleep, dining out, spending time with family, and visiting, phoning, or writing to a friend.

“Uplifts were good for everyone, but there is some nuance in not only who is most impacted but when the uplifts are most powerful,” Dr. Neupert said. “For example, we found that the positive effect of uplifts was more pronounced for people who had experienced traumatic loss, and especially so on days when they reported feeling older…There are things we can do, which are accessible for most people, to improve our moods. And those things can help us most on days when we most need it.”

The study, “Traumatic Losses Permeate Daily Emotional Experiences: Roles of Daily Uplifts and Subjective Age,” was published in the journal Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being.

Fitness Flash

A Woman’s Edge When it Comes to Exercise 

There is a gender gap between women and men when it comes to exercise, but this one is in favor of females, according to a new study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. It showed that women can exercise less often than men yet receive the same or even greater cardiovascular gains.

“Women have historically and statistically lagged behind men in engaging in meaningful exercise,” said Martha Gulati, MD, director of preventive cardiology in the department of cardiology in the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles, the Anita Dann Friedman Chair in Women’s Cardiovascular Medicine and Research, and co-lead author of the study. “The beauty of this study is learning that women can get more out of each minute of moderate to vigorous activity than men do. It’s an incentivizing notion that we hope women will take to heart.”

Investigators analyzed data from 412,413 US adults utilizing the National Health Interview Survey database, including gender-specific outcomes in relation to frequency, duration, intensity, and type of physical activity between 1997 and 2019.

“For all adults engaging in any regular physical activity, compared to being inactive, mortality risk was expectedly lower,” said Susan Cheng, MD, MPH, the Erika J. Glazer Chair in Women’s Cardiovascular Health and Population Science, director of the Institute for Research on Healthy Aging in the Department of Cardiology in the Smidt Heart Institute, and senior author of the study. “Intriguingly, though, mortality risk was reduced by 24 percent in women and 15 percent in men.”

The research team then studied moderate to vigorous aerobic physical activity, such as brisk walking or cycling, and found that men reached their maximal survival benefit from doing this level of exercise for about five hours per week, whereas women achieved the same degree of survival benefit from exercising just under about two and a half hours per week. 

Similarly, when it came to muscle-strengthening activity, such as weightlifting or core body exercises, men reached their peak benefit from doing three sessions per week and women gained the same amount of benefit from about one session per week. Dr. Cheng said that women had even greater gains if they engaged in more than two and a half hours per week of moderate to vigorous aerobic activity, or in two or more sessions per week of muscle-strengthening activities. 

With all types of exercise and variables accounted for, there’s power in the recommendations based on the study’s findings. “Men get a maximal survival benefit when performing 300 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity per week, whereas women get the same benefit from 140 minutes per week,” said Dr. Gulati. “Nonetheless, women continue to get further benefit for up to 300 minutes a week.”

“I am hopeful that this pioneering research will motivate women who are not currently engaged in regular physical activity to understand that they are in a position to gain tremendous benefit for each increment of regular exercise they are able to invest in their longer-term health,” said Christine M. Albert, MD, MPH, professor and chair of the department of cardiology in the Smidt Heart Institute and the Lee and Harold Kapelovitz Distinguished Chair in Cardiology.

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