Physical Activity News and Research

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What happens to your diet when you get better at cooking?

Cooking-skills interventions were associated with healthier dietary behaviors in healthy adults, including greater fruit and vegetable intake, improved diet quality, and greater cooking confidence. However, the certainty of evidence was low to very low, and too little evidence was available to determine whether cooking skills affect nutritional status.

20 Aug 2026

Study: Nearly 8 out of 10 young adults have cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic syndrome

A new scientific study found that nearly 8 out of 10 young adult participants, average age 23 years, had cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic syndrome (CKM syndrome), according to new independent research published today in Circulation: Population Health and Outcomes, a peer-reviewed scientific journal of the American Heart Association.

20 Aug 2026

This 29-year heart study tracked what happens after smokers quit

Long-term data from the Copenhagen City Heart Study linked both current and former smoking with a higher risk of sudden cardiac death, with risk rising alongside cumulative smoking exposure. Among former smokers, risk generally declined with longer time since quitting and approached that of never smokers only after prolonged abstinence.

20 Aug 2026

More coffee, higher testosterone? This study found a more complicated picture

Higher habitual coffee intake was associated with a leaner body composition, lower circulating branched-chain amino acids, and distinct cardiometabolic patterns in 2,264 middle-aged Finnish adults. Hormonal associations differed by sex, with broader testosterone- and SHBG-related patterns in men and more limited SHBG-related changes in women.

20 Aug 2026

Weight-loss drug users turn to social media over doctors for advice, Coventry University study finds

Researchers from the UK and Canada found that users of GLP-1 medications - weight-loss drugs such as Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro that help regulate appetite and blood sugar levels - often rely on social media, online forums, friends and family for information about the drugs.

19 Aug 2026

Novel AI system could pave way for more effective digital coaching, rehab tools

A novel AI system capable of recognizing yoga poses with high accuracy could pave the way for more effective digital coaching tools, rehab platforms and movement-monitoring applications.

19 Aug 2026

What 3,600 adults with diabetes revealed about lifestyle and heart health

In 3,612 British adults with type 2 diabetes, greater adherence to the Mediterranean Lifestyle Index was associated with lower risks of major adverse cardiovascular events, cardiovascular death, and all-cause mortality over more than a decade of follow-up. Dietary patterns, physical activity, rest, and social habits all contributed to the observed associations, although the observational study cannot establish causality.

19 Aug 2026

Women with type 2 diabetes saw striking changes after 24 weeks of this eating pattern

A 24-week randomized trial found that a lacto-vegetarian diet combined with 14-hour time-restricted eating improved glycemic control, insulin resistance, body weight, and lipid measures in Indian women with type 2 diabetes. The combined, nutritionist-supported intervention was generally well tolerated, but its individual dietary and fasting effects cannot be separated and longer-term studies are needed.

18 Aug 2026

Leisure-time exercise linked to lower dementia risk

For years, scientists have known that regular physical activity can help lower the risk of dementia. But new USC research suggests that it's not only the amount but also the activity's context - for work or for leisure - that makes a difference.

18 Aug 2026

What happens to body fat when people follow the Eatwell Guide?

Higher adherence to the UK Eatwell Guide was associated with lower BMI, waist circumference, total body fat, and trunk fat in more than 156,000 UK Biobank participants. The associations persisted prospectively across demographic, physical activity, and genetic-risk groups, supporting the role of diet quality in weight management.

16 Aug 2026

In a famous Blue Zone, daily movement was tied to fewer memory complaints

Older adults in Sardinian Blue Zone communities who took more daily steps, spent less time sedentary, perceived their physical health more positively, and had greater confidence in their memory reported fewer memory complaints. Sleep efficiency was not significantly associated with memory complaints, and the cross-sectional study cannot establish cause and effect.

13 Aug 2026

Inhaled cannabis reduces premature heartbeats in habitual users

Habitual cannabis users experienced about 9% fewer premature heartbeats on days they inhaled cannabis compared with days they abstained, a counterintuitive finding that adds to the complex and evolving understanding of how cannabis affects the heart, new UC San Francisco-led research found.

12 Aug 2026

Stroller running linked to lower overuse injury rates for new parents

Anyone who has run while pushing a stroller knows stroller running can feel cumbersome and hard on the body. But does it increase the risk of injury? According to a new study from researchers at Penn State Berks, the answer appears to be no.

12 Aug 2026

Childhood screen time may support cognitive processing in teenagers

In a recent Finnish study, more screen time since childhood was associated with better cognitive processing in adolescence.

12 Aug 2026

Healthy lifestyle cuts hearing impairment risk by 14%, metabolism is key driver

Hearing impairment ranks as the third largest contributor to global disability among sensory disorders, with prevalence rising across younger and middle-aged populations alongside older adults.

12 Aug 2026

The coffee advice given to atrial fibrillation patients may deserve a rethink

The DECAF randomized trial found that adults with persistent atrial fibrillation or atrial flutter assigned to drink at least one cup of caffeinated coffee daily had a 39% lower hazard of recurrent clinically detected AF or flutter than those assigned to avoid coffee and caffeine. The findings challenge longstanding advice to routinely restrict caffeinated coffee in people with AF, while further research is needed to determine whether coffee itself provides a protective effect.

12 Aug 2026

How well you balance and move may say more about longevity than you think

Objective fitness testing in 13,423 older adults in Taiwan found that higher physical fitness was consistently associated with lower all-cause mortality over a median seven years. Balance and agility, lower-body strength, and cardiorespiratory fitness showed the strongest associations, while a composite fitness score produced the steepest mortality gradient.

11 Aug 2026

Waist size predicts heart disease risk better than body mass index

The size of a person's midsection is a better indicator of cardiovascular disease risk when compared to their body mass index (BMI) alone, according to a study published in JACC, the flagship journal of the American College of Cardiology.

11 Aug 2026

Study links better midlife vascular health to nearly 13 more dementia-free years

A long-term study of 12,409 adults found that a greater burden of diabetes, hypertension, and current smoking in midlife was associated with substantially fewer years lived free of dementia. Adults with none of these risk factors had about 30.1 dementia-free years from age 55, compared with 17.5 years among those with all three, a difference of nearly 13 years.

10 Aug 2026

Simple biological age score flags higher cognitive decline risk in older adults

A study of 4,818 middle-aged and older Chinese adults found that higher light BioAge was associated with greater risks of cognitive impairment, episodic memory decline, and reduced mental intactness. The simple measure, based on age, creatinine, glucose, and CRP, added modest predictive information but requires further validation before clinical use.

10 Aug 2026