Although it is well known in bodybuilding circles that adequate sleep is crucial to maintain (or lose) body fat, the our sleep deprived mainstream has been a bit slow in catching on.

The new study reveals that the long-prescribed eight hours of sleep per night is the key to avoiding weight gain.

[Scientists] found that those who slept for less than six hours a night – or more than nine – put on more weight than those who slept for seven or eight hours each night.

The research published in the Journal Sleep found those who did not get enough sleep gained almost 4.4lbs (2kg) compared to those who slept for the recommended number of hours.
Those who had too much sleep gained 1.58 kilos (1.58kg) more than those who slept for the recommended number of hours over six years.

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Short sleepers were 27 per cent more likely to become obese and long sleepers were 21 per cent more likely than those had an average night’s sleep.

The research also found that things were worse for people who got less sleep as they were 35 per cent more likely to gain 11lbs (5kg) over six years than those who had seven or eight hours sleep. (More.)

Beyond mere weight loss and wellness, life extension is a powerful motivation to do what is difficult; restrict one’s daily calorie intake.

Calorie restriction research goes back more than 70 years to pioneering experiments on mice at Cornell University. Restricting your food intake does appear to extend life, although no one’s totally sure how.

“If we base ideas on calorie restriction, in animals, and even in monkeys, which are relatively close to us, we see that calorie restriction slows down virtually all diseases of aging,” researcher on aging at Harvard David Sinclair said.

Eat less, live longer? Easier said than done.

Brian Delaney is the president of the Calorie Restriction Society. He says it’s easy to live on a calorie restricted diet, simply figure out what your normal intake of calories would be and then reduce it by 20 to 30 percent – or maybe even a bit more.

“But then you don’t want to take it too far because then it’s frankly starvation,” he said.

Members of Delaney’s group generally consume fewer than 2,000 calories a day and some go as low as 1,000 calories. Will they live longer? Is what’s good for dessert-deprived monkeys also good for people?

“The CR diet could allow a human being to live to be maybe 135 or 140 years, but we don’t know yet because we have not done that long a study in humans,” Delaney said.

The article continues.

According to a new study:

The World Cancer Research Fund carried out the largest ever inquiry into lifestyle and cancer, and issued several stark recommendations.

They include not gaining weight as an adult, avoiding sugary drinks and alcohol, and not eating bacon or ham.

Everyone must also aim to be as thin as possible without becoming underweight.

People with a Body Mass Index (BMI), a calculation which takes into account height and weight, of between 18.5 and 25, are deemed to be within a “healthy” weight range.

But the study says their risk increases as they head towards the 25 mark, and that everyone should try to be as close to the lower end as possible.

There is no new research involved in this document: the panel examined 7,000 existing studies over five years.

The result, they say, is the most comprehensive investigation ever into the risks of certain lifestyle choices.

They see body fat as a key factor in the development of cancer, estimating its significance to be much higher than previously thought.

Now you can walk while you work, not just walk to work, thanks to the Walkstation, which Dr. James Levine of the Mayo Clinic created. Dr. Levine discussed the Walkstation in an interview with The Grand Rapids Press on October 25, the day the Walkstation was unveiled. Read more after the jump.

“What we have done is taken science from the lab to a product that could potentially help millions and millions of people,” said Levine, by phone Wednesday from New York.

“I think it’s the next iPod. Everybody is going to want one.”

But the price tag will be a little higher, at about $4,000.

The Walkstation, the first product of the new FitWork line, was to be unveiled in the Steelcase showroom in New York this afternoon and was to be featured on “Good Morning America” this morning.

Steelcase won’t begin taking orders until Nov. 19, but there already is a long list of companies eager to buy. Each Walkstation takes about six weeks to build. There also is a version that gives the user the option of sitting or walking while working.

In an interview with ABC News, Dr. Levine discussed the benefits of the Walkstation:

He measured the calorie burning capacity of sedentary versus walking workers and discovered that just standing on your feet burns an extra 20 calories an hour. And walking is even better. So he came up with a design for the treadmill desk.

Depending on age, sex and body type, a 60-minute stroll at an easy 1 mile per hour burns anywhere from 100 to 130 calories. Do the metabolic math for a typical eight-hour day, and you get a potential weight loss of up to 40 pounds a year —without ever leaving the office.

[...]

Levine started himself on a Walkstation regimen — 15 minutes at the top of every hour. Within six months, he got rid of his chair.

“You simply get the hang of walking and working,” he said. “A fascinating point is, your body naturally wants to be in motion … moving while working is what we’re designed to do. It’s only a recent development that work has confined our motion — that we’ve become ‘chair-imprisoned.’ The Walkstation gives people back the opportunity to move as they’re meant to do.”

Steelcase has a special Web site with video and full product details of the Walkstation.

Julie Deardroff writes in The Chicago Tribune of how marathoning as a sport has changed over the years. No longer for elite athletes, everyone is encouraged to undertake the challenge:

Marathons have come a long way from the 1960s, when they were so elitist that women — who couldn’t physically run 26.2 miles anyway — were barred from competition. Back then, no self-respecting runner would walk the race if he could help it. Crawling could be heroic. But walking? Most would rather quit.

Today, walking a marathon is not just accepted, but encouraged. In Chicago (when there is enough water on the course), marathoners have 6 1/2 hours to finish the “race.” The Des Moines Marathon, which is touted as one of the most walker-friendly events in the country, gives participants seven hours to finish. If you need more time, you can sign up for an early-bird start time to gain an extra hour on a closed course.

As a result, marathons are flourishing as a mainstream sport. The bar has been lowered, enabling 45,000 people, including thousands who ran to raise money for 83 charities, to register for last Sunday’s LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon.

[...]

“You don’t have to run competitively to reap the rewards running offers,” said John “The Penguin” Bingham, who helped popularize the slow-running movement. “What you do need is the courage to start.”

Notwithstanding, Gary Cohen, makes some important points about health and safety, in the aftermath of last week’s tragedy at the 2007 Chicago Marathon, in which many were treated for heat related injuries and one died in the 88 degree heat of that day:

Dr. Bill Pierce, an exercise science professor and cofounder of the Furman Institute of Running and Scientific Training in South Carolina, said a medical sign-off would not necessarily prevent the kind of issues seen at Sunday’s race.

“A routine physical won’t detect certain coronary weaknesses or problems,” Pierce said. “So we’re now talking about a $1,000 procedure or time to do an echocardiogram on every athlete. That just wouldn’t be possible. It would be so extensive, and I don’t know that it would be effective.”

Author and marathon expert Jeff Galloway, who has been training runners since 1978, stressed that it is important that amateur runners take their training seriously, but agreed that restricting runners would cause more problems than it would solve.

“[Marathon runners] are adults and they have to be expected to take responsibility for their health and safety,” Galloway said. “But if you put a cap on it, you’re going to keep a lot of people who have the opportunity to improve the quality of their life from participating and gaining this wonderful set of experiences along the way.”

Brian Wansink, director of Cornell University’s Food and Brand Lab, is the author of a new book, Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think. Fat Loss Victory highly recommmends both the book, and a visit to the website, Mindless Eating , which has a wealth of information and resources. Wansink explains the concept of “mindless eating:

Most of us don’t overeat because we’re hungry. We overeat because of family and friends, packages and plates, names and numbers, labels and lights, colors and candles, shapes and smells, distractions and distances, cupboards and containers.

Our studies show that the average person makes around 250 decisions about food every day – breakfast or no breakfast? Pop-tart or bagel? Part of it or all of it? Kitchen or car? Yet out of these 200+ food decisions, most we cannot really explain. Mindless Eating shows what these decisions are and how to make them work for you rather than against you.

The fact we like comfort foods is predictable, but it is also somewhat predictable which foods we will like, when and why we like them, and when all of it backfires. For starters, we found that men prefer meal-related comfort foods like steak, pasta, pizza, burgers because they make them feel special and well-taken care of. Women, on the other hand, don’t think of these as comfort foods. These foods reminded them of work – cooking and clean-up. Women much preferred the convenience of the snack foods, like cookies, chocolate, and ice cream. Eating ice cream from the container equals no cooking and no clean-up.

A recent USA Today article discusses Wansink’s “McSubway” project:

Wansink and his colleagues have reported some of their findings and are releasing more information in October’s Journal of Consumer Research.

In one study, the researchers gave 46 graduate students a coupon for a McDonald’s Big Mac, which at the time had about 600 calories, or a Subway 12-inch Italian sub with meat, cheese and mayonnaise, which had about 900, he says. The students weren’t told the number of calories in their sandwiches. Participants also were given a menu and asked to indicate what extras they would like to order, if anything.

Those given the Subway coupon were more likely to order a large drink and less likely to order a diet soda. They also were more likely to eat chocolate-chip cookies.

Those with the Subway coupon ended up ordering a meal with an average 1,011 calories. Those with the McDonald’s coupon got meals with an average of 648 calories.

In another test, people ate more snacks later in the day if they had eaten a Subway sandwich than a Big Mac, even though both had been made to equal about 600 calories.

Though Subway has a health halo, “there’s also a health shadow that’s cast on McDonald’s. People know what they are eating may be indulgent, so they come much closer to estimating the right number of calories,” says Wansink, the author of Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think.

As Fat Loss Victory has always contended, keeping a food diary is essential for weight loss success, as it makes us conscious of our eating habits – what we eat, when we eat, and why we eat. Holding ourselves accountable for what we eat will help cut down on “mindless eating.”

James O. Hill, Ph.D., co-founder of America on the Move, has written an illuminating article for ABCNews.com , “Why Americans ‘Tune Out’ Obesity Talk Simple Lifestyle Changes, Not Crash Dieting, Are the Key to Weight Loss Success.” He points out that it is these daily changes that are significant and produce lasting results, not crash diets and other drastic measures. An excerpt:

Simple lifestyle changes are a proven approach to preventing excessive weight gain. The average American gains one to two pounds each year; it is this gradual weight gain that is fueling increasing obesity rates. AOMF studies prove that making two small changes each day can reap big rewards over time. Just two simple steps — adding 2,000 steps a day (about a mile) and cutting 100 calories (about a pat of butter) — can keep off those few extra annual pounds.

Helping people make these small lifestyle changes is the most likely way to reverse the obesity epidemic. Over time, this will first stabilize and then lower the number of overweight and obese Americans.

Getting started is as simple as purchasing a pedometer and tracking the number of steps you take each day. Once a baseline is determined, adding 2,000 steps over the course of one day is easy — parking at the edge of the parking lot, walking once around the grocery store before beginning to shop, or even walking through the house while talking on the telephone all are quick, simple ways to add steps to your day.

We have also found that once people start making these small lifestyle changes, they find it easier to continue to make more small changes. The approach is viral and we have even found that these people begin to influence positively people around them (their social network).

You will find links to other, helpful articles on the ABCNews.com Diet and Fitness Section.

A recent study points out that regular exercise has a measurable effect in improving depression, equal to that of drugs:

In a study of 202 depressed adults, investigators found that those who went through group-based exercise therapy did as well as those treated with an antidepressant drug. A third group that performed home-based exercise also improved, though to a lesser degree.

Importantly, the researchers found, all three groups did better than a fourth group given a placebo — an inactive pill identical to the antidepressant.

While past studies have suggested that exercise can ease depression symptoms, a criticism has been that the research failed to compare exercise with a placebo. This leaves a question as to whether the therapy, per se, was responsible for the benefit.

The new findings bolster evidence that exercise does have a real effect on depression, according to the researchers.

How many times have we heard it? We must stay more active in daily life to improve fitness and general heath. How many articles have you read detailing the simple steps – literally – that can add up significantly over time. We are always encouraged to walk more, to park farther away from entrances, to take the stairs, not the elevators.

Walking is a natural part of life in New York, and as detailed in a recent article in New York Magazine, aggregate data shows that New Yorkers are healthier because they walk more than the average American and they walk faster.

“Walking speed absolutely reflects health status,” Simonsick says. So when you irritatedly blow past a trio of ambling visitors from Ohio or Iowa on the subway platform, you’re not just being an obnoxious New Yorker. You’re demonstrating that you’re going to outlive them—and enjoy better health while they slowly degrade.

The thing is, as Simonsick points out, New York is literally designed to force people to walk, to climb stairs—and to do it quickly. Driving in the city is maddening, pushing us onto the sidewalks and up and down the stairs to the subways. What’s more, our social contract dictates that you should move your ass when you’re on the sidewalk, so as not to annoy your fellow walkers. (A recent ranking of cities found that New York has the fastest pedestrians in the country.) As Simonsick sees it, the very structure of the city coerces us to exercise far more than people elsewhere in the U.S., in a way that is strongly correlated with a far-better life expectancy. Every city block doubles as a racewalking track, every subway station, a StairMaster. Seen this way, the whole city looks like a massive exercise machine dedicated to improving our health while we run errands.