But extending it might just involve short bursts of activity.

A recent study found that brief bouts of robust exercise, such as super-fast walking for one or two minutes a day, measurably reduce the risk of dying over the seven years of follow-up by researchers.

Specifically, the risk fell 38% to 40% for any cause of death and for cancer mortality, and dropped 48% to 49% for risk of cardiovascular death, compared to people who did no physical activity. Those reductions were comparable to the benefits linked to more formal exercise, reported STAT.

Cold Hearts

Heat waves can pose serious, often life-threatening, risks to people with chronic illnesses, but extreme cold turns out to be even worse for people with heart disease.

A study spanning five continents and more than 32 million cardiovascular deaths between 1979 and 2019 found that there were more deaths on days when temperatures were at their highest or lowest. On the hottest days, there were 2.2 additional deaths for every 1,000 cardiovascular deaths, but on the coldest days, there were 9.1 additional deaths.

Get Me That, Stat!

Vaccines and new treatments have effectively reduced the severity of COVID-19 infections for most people, but for many, symptoms linger, according to new National Institutes of Health-supported research.

After six months, researchers found that more than 7 in 10 adults said they experienced persistent symptoms like coughing, chest pain and fatigue. Nearly half said there were some limitations doing everyday activities, such as eating, preparing meals, bathing, getting dressed or walking across the room.

More than half reported a different consequence: financial difficulties, such as paying bills.

Stories for the Waiting Room

Back in 2015, long before the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 virus and the COVID-19 pandemic, the infectious disease causing an international furor was Zika, following an outbreak in Brazil.

The viral infection, transmitted to fetus from mother, was capable of causing birth defects and severe neurological damage, most notably microcephaly, or an abnormally small head.

Zika faded from the headlines, but research continues. The most comprehensive study to date looked at the pregnancies of 1,548 women infected by the virus. About one-third of the children exposed to the virus prenatally had at least one abnormality among those that make up congenital Zika syndrome. Among the most frequent problems: neurological impairments, alterations in hearing and vision and microcephaly.

Phobia of the Week

Genuphobia: fear of knees or the act of kneeling

Never Say 'Diet'

The Major League Eating record for pork and beans is 84 ounces in 58 seconds, held by Micah Collins, human bean.

Best Medicine

The dentist told his patient to open wider.

"My goodness!" he said. "You've got the biggest cavity I've ever seen, the biggest cavity I've ever seen."

"Hey, I'm worried enough as it is," said the patient. "You don't have to repeat yourself."

"I didn't," replied the dentist. "That was the echo."

Observation

"Let's have a moment of silence for all those Americans who are stuck in traffic on their way to the gym to ride the stationary bicycle." — Earl Blumenauer

Medical History

This week in 1983, Barney C. Clark (born 1921), who had become the first recipient of a permanent artificial heart, died at the University of Utah's Medical Center after 112 days with the device. Doctors said Clark's death was due to a massive circulatory collapse "resulting from a multitude of causes."

Sum Body

High levels of stress are not good for the body. Among the purported negative effects: brain shrinkage! These routine tasks have been shown in studies to actually reduce stress — and get things done, to boot.

No. 1: Washing dishes.

No. 2: Decluttering your home.

No. 3: Exercising in a group.

No. 4: Sniffing your partner's laundry. OK, this one requires some elaboration. A 2018 study found that sniffing a loved one's clothes can reduce stress. (Sniffing a stranger's clothes increased stress.) The study was unclear whether the laundry was clean or dirty.

No. 5: Writing about your failures, which apparently better allows one to put them aside and get on with things.

No. 6: Singing for all to hear. (No word on what that does to the stress levels of those within earshot.)

Epitaphs

"She is happy, for she knows

That her dust is very pretty." — From the headstone of American writer, critic and satirist Dorothy Parker (1893-1967). Parker was better known for her biting wit, but she was a poet as well. The two lines are from the last stanza of a Parker poem called "Epitaph for a Darling Lady." In some versions of the poem, the dust is "charming."

To find out more about Scott LaFee and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

Photo credit: maxmann at Pixabay