Vitamin D for Bone Density?

 

Taking Vitamin D supplements may help improve bone density, but only for those who are deficient to start with.

The VITAL study assigned 771 participants to take either 2,000IU of Vitamin D or a placebo daily for a period of two years. About 80% of study participants began with normal blood levels of Vitamin D. For those participants, the supplementers ended the study with no higher (and no lower) bone mineral density than those given the placebo.

But for those who began the study with low levels of Vitamin D those taking the supplement had a small increase in density in the spine and less bone loss in the hip than the placebo takers.

The study measured free Vitamin D blood levels, not total. Most routine blood tests measure the total level.

While more research is needed, the authors recommend that people under 70 years old get 600UI of Vitamin D every day. Those over 70 should aim for 800IU. The typical person will not be reaching these targets without supplementation. 

Since the benefit of higher doses accrued only to those already deficient, it would be worthwhile to have your blood level measured before starting to take the larger doses.

Losing Weight Reduces Breast Cancer Risk

 

A study of 125,000 women age 50 and older by American Cancer Society, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and others and published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute concluded that losing even a modest amount of weight cut the risk of postmenopausal breast cancer.

Compared to women who maintained a stable weight over the 10 year study period, the risk of breast cancer was 32% lower among those who lost at least 20 pounds and kept it off. Those women who lost 20 pound but then regained some of it back still had a lower risk than those who maintained a stable weight.

The reduction in risk increased with the amount of weight lost and was specific to women not using postmenopausal hormones. But women who lost less than 20 pounds also saw a reduced cancer risk - 25% among those who lost 10 to 20 pounds and 18% for those who lost 4 to 10 pounds.

"Our results suggest that even a modest amount of sustained weight loss is associated with lower breast cancer risk for women over 50," said Lauren Teras, PhD, lead author of the study. "These findings may be a strong motivator for the two-thirds of American women who are overweight to lose some of that weight. Even if you gain weight after age 50, it is not too late to lower your risk of breast cancer."

Step Your Way to Better Sleep

 

There is a lot of information advising us how to get a better night's sleep, and for good reason. Among the well documented health benefits of regularly getting a restful night's sleep are decreased stress and blood pressure, better memory function, reduced inflammation and a more positive outlook. Not surprisingly, there are all sorts of supplements, foods, routines and gadgets that promise you better quality sleep.

Well here is one that has been shown to work and will not cost you a cent. Go for a walk.

According to a 2019 study published in Sleep Health, people who took more steps over the course of the one-month study rated their sleep quality better than less active people did. Women reported bigger improvements in sleep quality than men. Compared to the days when they were less active, participants said they slept longer and better on the days when they walked more.

How much more? 

The researchers enrolled 59 people with an average age of 49 and asked them to take an additional 2,000 extra steps per day—roughly equivalent to a mile—every week over the course of four weeks. Participants wore Fitbits to track their activity. The steps did not have to be taken all at once, just added in throughout the day, and study participants averaged about 7,000 steps. That is well below the 10,000 steps usually recommended for fitness.

So if you needed yet another reason to get moving, there it is.

Supplements and Immunity

Supplements are not a primary defense against viruses and there is no single supplement that will "boost" your immune system. But supplements can be a part of an overall immune system health regimen, and may help reduce the risk and severity of illnesses.

Here are four supplements that may help avoid an illness or suffer a less severe case if you get one, as recommended by Dr Joseph Feuerstein, MD, assistant professor of clinical medicine at Columbia University and director of Integrative Medicine at Stamford Health in CT. Recommended doses are per day.

Vitamin D - 2,000 to 4,000 IU. Studies show a high correlation between COVID-19 mortality and Vitamin D deficiency. The amount you should take depends on your current blood level. So check with your doctor.

Vitamin C - 500 to 1,000 mg. Research suggests vitamin C has a stimulative effect on the cells of the immune system.

Zinc - 30 to 50 mg. Zinc can help inhibit viral replication. Be advised that high doses taken for months may produce a copper deficiency.

Malatonin - 3 to 6 mg. In addition to helping to get a restful sleep, melatonin has anti-inflammatory effects on the lungs.

Dr. Feuerstein recommends avoiding the following if you already are infected by a virus - elderberry, quercetin and echinacea. They can overstimulate the immune system which can be dangerous in the later stages of an infection.

Supplements are no magic bullet, but they may possibly give you an edge. As always, discuss your program with your doctor or other healthcare provider.

More Bad News for Statin Users

 

As if statin drugs did not already have enough side effects to give you pause, a new study awaiting publication in “Diabetes/ Metabolism, Research and Reviews” concluded that the long term use of statin drugs increases your risk of developing type-2 diabetes by 100% - 200%. “Those who used statins for two years or less did not have a statistically significant increase in their risk for diabetes,” said Victoria Zigmont, the study author. “But those who used the drugs for more than two years had a greater risk.”

The study included nearly 5,000 men and women who were followed for four years. “Overall, the study showed what I expected it to show – a greater risk for diabetes among those who used statin drugs for a significant period of time,” Zigmont said. She noted that a complex series of biological changes occurs in the body when statin drugs are taken over time, leading to that increase of risk. These include metabolic changes and increased insulin resistance.

“The decision to take a statin and in what dosage is a discussion for patients to discuss with their doctors,” Zigmont said. “Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, and research has shown that statins help reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes. At the same time, there are side effects to any pharmaceutical. And certainly, people should strongly consider lifestyle modifications, whether they take statins or not. After all, obesity is the number one risk factor for diabetes. Eating a healthy diet, exercising regularly, maintaining a healthy weight and not smoking are among the things people can do to reduce their risk for both heart disease and diabetes.”

This seems a particular concern at a time when pharmaceutical companies are pushing to have the preventive use of statins approved for people in their 20s with no previous personal history of heart disease. 

CBD Buyers Beware

 

The recency of its legality and the popularity of CBD products has created a massive opportunity for scammers and, being scammers, they are taking full advantage of it. Because the market is so new, there are no FDA guidelines for the labeling or regulation of CBD sales. As a result, both vary widely from state to state. The internet, in particular, has proven to be rife with swindlers selling inferior product at sky high prices.

A study published in JAMA in November of 2018 analyzed 84 CBD products from 31 different online sellers. Only 26 of them contained the amount of active CBD claimed on the label. That's about 1 in 3. A similar FDA study identified some CBD products sold online that had no CBD oil in them at all.

Since the therapeutic benefit of CBD depends critically on the dose and purity of the product, you want to be sure that you are getting what you pay for. Do your research and avoid companies with short histories, or those you cannot find any information on at all. Do not rely on testimonials provided on the seller's sites, they are easily faked. And use products that are neither the cheapest nor the most expensive ones you find.

It is sad that there are so many people who make their living by cheating others, but that is the world in which we live.

Stronger Body / Stronger Heart

 

According to a recently completed 10-year observational study of over 2,000 adults 45 years old and older in Barcelona, Spain, the more muscle mass your body has the lower your chances of having a heart attack or stroke. How much less likely?

"Men and women with the highest muscle volume were 81% less likely to suffer a heart attack or stroke compared with those who have the lowest," said study author Stefanos Tyrovolas. 

Muscle mass helps the body regulate and maintain normal inflammatory, endocrine and metabolic functions. Any or all of these could be responsible for the reduced risk.

Our muscles normally grow year to year from the time we are born until we reach about age 30. After that, we begin to gradually lose muscle. Those of us leading sedentary lives with little or no weight bearing exercise will begin to lose 3% - 5% of their muscle mass each decade after 30. The rate of loss begins to increase between 65 and 70 years old.

The primary treatment for this muscle loss, called sarcopenia, is exercise, specifically resistance training or strength training. These activities increase muscle strength and endurance using weights or resistance bands.

Now that we know that countering your body's natural tendency to lose muscle mass with age can significantly lower your risk for heart attack and stroke, you have one more reason to include resistance training in your exercise routine. (You do have an exercise routine, right?)

 

Coffee, Tea and Diabetes

 

A study of older adults with Type 2 diabetes published in October in the journal BMJ Open Diabetes Research & Care suggests that drinking coffee and tea every day lowers the risk of death compared with those who rarely drink either. The greatest benefit went to those who drank the most.

The study included over 4,900 older adults in Japan. All had Type 2 diabetes. Those drinking four or more cups of green tea plus two or more cups of coffee every day had a 63% lower risk of death than those who drank none. For two or three cups of tea only, the risk was almost 30% lower. Two cups of coffee alone resulted in a more than 40% reduction in mortality risk.

The researchers theorize that the polyphenols in coffee and tea reduce cellular inflammation and are protective against cell damage.

Seven Legit Work-from-Home Jobs

I have had a network marketing business for over 10 years. I enjoy it and, for me, its been a fun social business and a great supplement to my retirement income. I am fully aware that many people regard MLM with great suspicion, so if you are one of them and are looking for good, part-time work-from-home opportunities that are NOT network marketing, here are some you might want to take a look at. You can view a more comprehensive list on Clark Howard's web site.

Customer Service/Sales Rep  ($10 - $20 an hour)

Tutor ($20+ an hour)

Travel Consultant (up to $30 per hour)

Programmer ($30 - $35 an hour)

Editor ($25 - $30 an hour)

Translator ($18 - $23 an hour)

Data Entry Clerk ($15 an hour)

Note that these are all Jobs and not Businesses. You would be an employee or contractor. Also, some of them may require specialized skills and/or experience. Some tutoring work may require a degree. But all of these are legitimate ways to earn some extra money right from home right now.

Why Is It This Hard?

 

There seems to be a common perception that the way to fix the healthcare system in the US is to get everyone insured. But anyone who has ever had to deal with the health insurance system already knows what an opaque, impenetrable mess it is. What other business would expect you to make purchases without knowing what they were going to cost you? And yet for health insurance we do it all the time.

It is bad enough that costs and prices are top secret, but even if you do try to look into it the system will block you at every turn. In fact, in some cases, a healthcare provider would be violating their contract with an insurer by revealing their prices. The system is so complex and so devoted to secrecy that it is an enormous task to get an answer to the question "What is this going to cost me?" before you see your bill. 

Let me give you just one example that I read about recently. A woman was scheduled for a procedure that was going to require anesthesia. Having read that the use of an out-of-network (for her) provider was one of the most common reasons for large, unexpected charges on a hospital bill, she called her doctor's office to ask about her coverage. The doctor's office did not know the answer and suggested she call the hospital's billing department.

The person at the billing department said it was "impossible" to know, since she only found out about expenses after they had already been incurred. She suggested that she call the anesthesia group directly.

Now the anesthesia group itself was out of network, but some of its doctors were not. But the person she spoke with said that since she did not know which anesthesiologist would be working on the day of the procedure, she could not answer the question and suggested she call her doctor's office and ask "who he usually worked with". Then she could call back and find out if that doctor was in-network. Although there was no guarantee that same doctor would be working that day.

When she called her doctor's office (again) she was told that there was no "preferred" anesthesiologist, they just worked with whoever was on that day. They suggested calling the insurance company directly.

When speaking with the insurance company, she was told that since the hospital itself was in network, if the anesthesiologist turned out not to be, she should "simply" appeal the charge after she got the bill. The company could then reprocess it as an in-network expense.

This might be funny if it was not true... and common. Health insurance is one of the largest expenses that many people have. And yet you don't find out what it really covers until after you use it. We might ask why transparency is so carefully avoided. Why should it require five phone calls to still not know what something is going to cost you? Why should you have to appeal your bill to get the coverage you paid for?

The lesson to take away from this is that when it comes to protecting yourself from unexpected medical bills, you are on your own. Neither you doctors nor your hospital nor your insurer is going to help you much, if they even could. Is this really the insurance system that we want to expand?

Five Principles for Keeping Your Resolutions

 

So many New Year's Resolutions never make it to February that they are understandably the butt of jokes and a source of skepticism. We make them with enthusiasm and good intent, and then ease back into our old familiar ways after just a few weeks. Excuses start to seem like good reasons.

If you have been unsuccessful in seeing your good intentions through, here are some ideas that might give you a better chance in 2021.

1. Resolve to act differently rather than to be different.

We don't change without altering our behavior. If we resolve to achieve certain results, be it losing 20 pounds, cutting back on drinking or getting more sleep, we are not going to do so unless we change the behaviors and habits that have gotten us to where we are right now. Instead of resolving to lose weight, decide instead to make specific changes to your diet and exercise routines. The result will follow the behavior.

2. Don't sabotage yourself with an "all or nothing" attitude.

Instead of trying to change everything that you dislike about your present situation, pick one or two things and change them. Go for small but meaningful successes. Celebrate your progress. Even a small step in the right direction leaves you better off than you were and makes the next step that much easier for you to take.

3. Be the Turtle, not the Hare.

Whatever it is you want to change, chances are it took you a while to develop the routines and habits you have now. If you gained that 50 pounds over ten years, its maybe not reasonable or fair to expect to lose it in a month or two. Making one small change at a time and building on your success makes it much more likely that you will start to create new habits and begin to achieve long-term results. And be able to maintain them. Slow and steady may not feel like you are getting anywhere at first but after a few weeks you will see that your are, indeed, winning the race.

4. Limit or remove your triggers and temptations.

Often the things we dislike are habits that we have formed and reinforced without even thinking about it. We all have our habits and daily rituals. And we have certain people or places or circumstances which trigger the very behavior we are trying to change. The more of these triggers you can eliminate from your life (its unlikely that you will be able to eliminate them all) the easier it will be to alter your behavior and get the results you want. If you don't have that bag of chips in the pantry, you aren't going to sit down by the TV and eat it. 

5. Call yourself out on your excuses.

Literally. Call yourself out, out loud. We all have excuses for not doing what we had decided to do. I can do it tomorrow. Skipping it once won't hurt anything. I don't have time right now. I really just don't feel like it today. I was good all week, I deserve a treat. These are all your ways of putting off dealing with the discomfort of change. Think of all the things you make yourself do that you really would rather not do. Get up when the alarm goes off. Pay the cable bill. Go to the dentist. But you do them anyway because you don't want to deal with the problems caused by not doing them. If you want the rewards of change, you have to deal with changing.

I'd love to hear from you about any tricks, techniques or tactics that you have found to be successful in helping you reach your resolution goals.

Beyond Olive Oil

Vegetable oils are a calorie dense food. Most oils have 110 to 120 calories per tablespoonful, so use them accordingly. Fortunately, a tablespoonful is usually plenty for cooking and most oils add a lot of flavor so you really do not need to use all that much. 

Olive oil gets most of the good press from credible nutritionists and for good reason. Over 70% of the fat in olive oil is oleic acid, a healthy monounsaturated fat. Only 14% of the fat in olive oil is saturated. It also contains a high amount of various antioxidants. Monounsaturated fats are helpful in avoiding stroke and coronary disease. It is also quite tasty.

Olive oil does have a relatively low smoke point, the point at which the heat begins to oxidize the oil, so it may not be best for frying at higher temperatures. But all-in-all, it is hard to beat healthwise.

But there are other oils that also score high with the American Heart Association. All have less than 4 grams of saturated fat per tablespoonful and can bring a whole new set of flavors to your cooking. While olive oil may be your "go to" oil, the following also merit your consideration.

Avocado, peanut and safflower oils have strong flavors and much higher smoke points (450 deg F and up vs 325 def F for olive oil). If you prefer a milder flavor then canola (often called rapeseed), soybean, corn and sunflower oil will all fill the bill. You can use any of them for cooking, baking or as a base for your own salad dressings. Any one of them is wellness friendly.

Coconut and palm oils are best used in moderation. They contain almost three times the saturated fat of the oils suggested above and, like olive oil, have a low smoke point (350degF). Coconut oil is very flavorful though so you may want to have some on hand for occasional use. Palm oil is present in a wide variety of baked goods, so check labels if you want to avoid it.

5 Vegetables That Are Better for You Cooked

 

We usually think of vegetables as being even more nutritious when we eat them raw, and for the most part that is true. Water soluble vitamins like vitamin C and B can leach out when a vegetable is cooked, leaving them behind. But some vegetables are actually better for you when you cook them first. Here are five common vegetables whose nutritional value improves when you cook them.... and why that is.

Tomatoes

You are better able to absorb the lycopene, which is protective against cancer and heart disease, from cooked tomatoes than from raw ones. Happily, this benefit extends to processed foods like spaghetti sauce and tomato paste as well. Just watch out for added sugar and salt.

Spinach

Spinach is known as a great source of calcium. But it also contains oxalic acid, which make the calcium harder for your body to absorb. Cooking breaks it down. Don't overcook it though. Mushy spinach is a culinary nightmare. Blanch or saute it quickly.

Mushrooms

Mushrooms are good source of antioxidants and they can be more concentrated when cooked. Grilling and microwaving seem to be particularly effective at increasing antioxidant activity.

Carrots

The beta carotene in carrots is more easily converted into Vitamin A if they have been cooked.

Broccoli

Broccoli is more easily digested when it is cooked. Steaming does not appear to compromise its nutritional content the way boiling does. As with spinach, you don't want to overcook it.

Cooked or raw though, vegetables should be on your plate at every meal

Say "Cheese Please!"

 

 

Despite its high saturated fat and sodium content and its high calorie density, Americans eat a lot of cheese - about 39 pounds per capita. In fact, cheese is a nutritious food. A typical one ounce serving of cheddar (real cheddar, not that abominable stuff that comes in individually wrapped slices) contains 200mg of calcium and 8 grams of protein. That same 1 ounce also contains around 100 calories though, and there is the problem. Where we usually go wrong with cheese is simply eating too much of it.

So here are some tips for making cheese a part of a healthy diet.

1. Be Aware of what you are eating. Learn what a 1 ounce portion is. It is probably more than you think it is but less than you are used to eating. The amount of saturated fat can vary quite a bit among different varieties of cheese, from about 6 grams per serving at the high end for cheddar and brie to almost none in a cottage cheese or parmesan. 

2. Reconsider your Accompaniments. Instead of just automatically piling your cheese atop crackers that add even more salt and fat to your snack, consider pairing it with fruits and vegetables. This adds nutrients, fiber and water to your snack. For example, pair some mozzarella cheese with cherry tomatoes drizzled with just a bit of balsamic vinegar. Or have a few pretzels with your cheddar instead of crackers.

3. Use Cheese as a Meat Replacement. Cheese is not only for snacking. It can enhance many dishes or even serve as a main entre. Get creative. But measure.

4. What's for Desert? How about cheese? Instead of cake or cookies, try a small plate of a favorite cheese with nuts and fresh or dried fruits. It will not only feel elegant, but it will be a better choice.

With cheese, the main thing to remember is that it is a lot of calories in a small serving. So don't avoid enjoying it. Just consume it deliberately in moderation.

Good News/Bad News for Coffee Drinkers

 

It turns out that the way you prepare your coffee has a major impact on how good or bad it is for you.

A study published this year in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology that followed half a million Norwegian men and women for 20 years has concluded that the way in which you brew your coffee has a strong influence on your risk for heart attack.

Unfiltered coffee - such as that brewed in a French press, perked or using a Turkish Cezve - contains as much as 30 times the lipid-raising substances as filtered coffee. Daily consumption of unfiltered coffee was linked to elevated levels of total and LDL (bad) cholesterol, more heart attacks and more deaths from all causes than those who drank only filtered coffee - such as is made in a drip coffee maker.

The good news?

Drinking 1 to 4 cups of filtered coffee per day is actually good for your health. Better, in fact, than not drinking coffee at all. Those who consumed filtered coffee daily had a 15% lower risk of death from any cause and a 12%/20% (men/women) lower risk of heart attack. It made no difference if regular or decaf was consumed.

So go ahead and enjoy that second cup.

Try More Tomatos

 

When I was growing up on Long Island, every year my dad would plant a vegetable garden. Sometime in the late summer we would get a few scrawny lettuce plants, some radishes and, in a good year, maybe some beans and peppers. It seemed like an awful lot of work for what he got from it.

But for the tomatoes. They seemed to thrive in the hot, humid NY summers and pulling one off the vine and eating it was a summertime ritual. Does anything taste so good as a freshly picked tomato? 

If you think that the tomatoes you buy at the grocery store just don't measure up, you're right. "In an attempt to produce firm, round, red, pest-resistant fruit, big agriculture accidentally bred out the gene that gave tomatoes their flavor," says Amanda Bontempo, a dietician at NYU Langone Medical Center. If that were not bad enough, they are usually picked well before they are ripe to allow for transportation to the stores. That is why the ones you see in the grocery look gorgeous but are hard as stones and tasty as salt water.

If you prefer tomatoes similar to those of your childhood summers, you might try growing your own. You can get the plants already started and they generally will do well indoors in a warm, sunny spot. If like me you have a brown thumb, try to find locally grown tomatoes or grab them at a farmer's market in season.

In addition to being delicious, tomatoes are loaded with lycopene, a powerful antioxidant. Like all antioxidants, lycopene neutralizes free radicals that oxidize (we'd call it rust if we were made of iron) compounds in your body and cause cells to break down over time. They play a role in cancer, heart disease and many diseases associated with aging. Antioxidants are protective against oxidation.

A 2020 study found that men who ate tomatoes almost every day had nearly a 30% lower risk of developing prostate cancer than men who didn't. Lycopene is also believed to be protective of skin cancers and to help maintain bone mass as we age.

Surprisingly, cooking tomatoes increases both the amount and the absorption of lycopene compared with eating them raw. It is also fat soluble, so having tomatoes with olive oil or a little cheese enhances your ability to absorb the lycopene. There is no recommended daily intake for lycopene but as little a 7mg per day is thought to be beneficial.

Not all tomatoes are red. Yellow tomatoes contain lutein, which may help reduce the risk of developing age related macular degeneration. Orange ones pack a lot of beta carotene, which your body converts to Vitamin A. You can also find purple, green, brown and black tomatoes. All of them are healthy choices.

Many people avoid eating tomatoes because they contain solanine, a compound that causes inflammation and which may be toxic in large quantities. (Solanine is common in Nightshades, which include peppers, eggplant and potatoes as well as tomatoes.) But the amount of soalnine found in tomatoes is extremely low and there is no clinical research supporting the theory that they have an inflammatory effect. In fact, the research suggests just the opposite, that tomatoes have a fairly powerful anti-inflammatory effect.

So go on and enjoy your tomatoes. Try a few unfamiliar varieties. And definitely use than in your cooking.

Caring for Your Immune System

 

Your immune system is your first line of defense against infection. In the age of Covid, everyone is concerned about maintaining a strong, healthy immune system. That includes the Marketing Department, who would have you believe that if you just buy and use their amazing product, Covid will be too afraid to come near you.

Your immune system has two main parts, the Innate System and the Adaptive System.The Innate System responds immediately to a perceived threat, summoning white blood cells to attack the invader and also activating the Adaptive System through a process called antigen presentation. The Adaptive System gets most of the press, but the Innate System is the first into the fight.

Once activated, the Adaptive System summons a type of white blood cell called a T-cell. These cells directly attack and destroy infected cells, and signal other B-cells to begin to produce antibodies to the specific infection. This can take several weeks, but once you are producing the antibodies you are either immune to that particular infection or far better able to cope with it. This is essentially how vaccines work, by activating the Adaptive System to produce antibodies without having to have the actual infection first.

Obviously, we'd like our immune systems to be as strong and effective as possible. So it may be tempting to load up on the various supplements, diets, and additives that promise to strengthen and support yours. Unfortunately, the only thing that most of them strengthen and support is the bottom line of the company selling  them to you.

I know you are tired of hearing it, but a having healthy lifestyle is probably the single best thing you can do to maintain your immune health. This means no smoking (including vaping and marijuana), drinking alcohol only in moderation (or not at all), maintaining a healthy weight for your height, getting plenty of good quality sleep, learning to manage the stresses of daily life, regular moderate exercise and (yes, you knew this was coming) eating a balanced diet that includes whole grains, fruits and vegetables.

This seems to be pretty much the same advice you keep getting for a wide variety of wellness issues. Perhaps its worth a try instead of those $60 ImmunoSamurai pills.

You Don't Need to be a Gym Rat

 

 

When discussing important lifestyle considerations, diet is often at the forefront. But exercise deserves at least as much attention. And you do not have to exercise strenuously for hours every day to reap a benefit. Just brief bouts of moderate activity (lets not even call it exercise) will pay lasting health benefits including improved mood and outlook, losing or controlling weight, strengthening your bones, lowering your blood pressure and boosting your energy (among many others).

Now a recent study from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and published in JAMA Oncology suggests it may also lower your cancer risk. The study followed 8,000 men and women and found that the most sedentary individuals had an 82% higher risk of cancer death than the least sedentary individuals.

How much activity was required to realize a benefit? Not much. Researchers found that replacing just 30 minutes a day of sitting with light housework or gardening cut cancer risk 8%. Up your game just slightly, say with a 30 minute walk, and you cut your risk by over 30%.

So stop reading this right now and go for a walk!