Explore every episode of the podcast Zoomer Report

There is more evidence on the benefits of exercise, especially as we age! A study published in the Annals of internal medicine finds that Zoomers who regularly exercise are less likely to suffer a disability -- and if they do, they tend to recover faster. Researchers recruited more than 1,600 sedentary adults ages 70 to 89. They randomly assigned half of them to an exercise program, while the other half attended health education classes. People in the exercise group did some strength and balance training, but moderate walking was the main activity. Over the next 3.5 years, people who exercised spent 25 percent less time with a major movement disability -- an inability to walk a quarter-mile -- compared to the other participants. Active seniors were 13 percent less likely to develop a movement disability. But the biggest benefit came later: Exercisers were one-third more likely to recover from their injuries – injuries that can otherwise become permanent. The bottom line, researchers say: It's never too late to start to reap the benefits of exercise.

Have you checked the expiry dates on your medications and other products lately? Most people do it infrequently, but it’s a good idea to clean out your medicine cabinet twice a year. After the expiry date, medications start to lose their effectiveness, and so do products like sunscreen - so if you keep taking them you may not be getting the treatment or the protection you need. Some drugs even become toxic. Storing medications in the wrong place can also reduce their efficacy. Many of us keep drugs in the bathroom, but they really should be put in places that are not humid. A poll showed that in addition to prescription drugs, the most common expired products people found at home were Sunscreen, Cough & Cold medicine, Allergy pills and Vitamins. And please be careful about how you dispose of old drugs. Don’t throw them in garbage or flush them down the toilet. Your pharmacist will take them back and dispose of them safely.

Do you find it hard to find time for exercise? The latest findings from Taiwan show that getting as little as 15 minutes of physical activity a day can make you live longer. Currently, physical activity guidelines from authorities like the World Health Organization recommend that people exercise 30 minutes a day, five days a week, a benchmark that’s tough for many of us. RESEARCHERS studied more than 400,000 men and women in Taiwan for an average of eight years. The findings suggest it may take only half that recommended time — 15 minutes a day — to gain health benefits. After taking into account differences in age, weight, sex and a range of health-related indicators, they found that those15 minutes of moderate exercise increased life expectancy by three years compared to those who remained inactive. The low exercise group also had a reduction of 10 per cent in cancer mortality compared to the couch potatoes. Researchers say the findings are consistent with previous studies but this is the first to come up with the minimum level of exercise necessary. They hope this will make it more attractive for inactive people to find that life-lengthening quarter hour every day.

It turns out that speaking about important events in the past can go a long way to improve wellbeing for people in nursing homes. It’s called reminiscence therapy and an Australian gerontologist compared it to other types of interventions for people in long term care. She found that it was more effective than social activities, indoor gardening, or playing games – as a matter of fact - reminiscence therapy was the only thing that addressed both feelings of isolation and depression, according to the work in the Journal Quality of Life Research.

A measurement of blood sugar called postprandial glycemia, which has been linked with heart disease risk, averaged 12 percent lower when study participants took a walk after eating, compared with those who exercised at other times. The largest drop in postprandial glycemia, 22 percent, was achieved by walking after dinner, the study authors found. "If you have type 2 diabetes, there is a guideline to be active for at least 150 minutes a week," said study author Andrew Reynolds, a researcher at the University of Otago, in New Zealand. But, he added, "the benefits we observed due to physical activity after meals suggest that current guidelines should be amended to specify after-meal activity, particularly when meals contain a substantial amount of carbohydrates," he said. "Consider walking after you eat as part of your daily routine," he added.

It’s a good idea to clean out your medicine cabinet twice a year. After the expiry date, medications start to lose their effectiveness, and so do products like sunscreen - so if you keep taking them you may not be getting the treatment or the protection you need. Some drugs even become toxic. Storing medications in the wrong place can also reduce their efficacy. Many of us keep drugs in the bathroom, but they really should be put in places that are not humid. A poll showed that in addition to prescription drugs, the most common expired products people found at home were Sunscreen, Cough & Cold medicine, Allergy pills and Vitamins.

A study in Nature by Albert Einstein College of Medicine scientists suggests that it may not be possible to extend the human life beyond the ages already attained by the oldest people on record.

Researchers randomly assigned volunteers, with mild cognitive impairment, to either twelve weeks of meditation, and other yoga practices, or twelve weeks of memory enhancement training, which taught strategies for improving forgetfulness. In the end the study found both groups did a little better on tests of verbal memory but the meditation group showed a bigger change in tests of visual spatial memory, which is needed for navigating while walking or driving or trying to recall a location.

Chinese researchers analyzed the diets of nearly 500,000 people for 7 years and found that those who ate spicy foods one or two days a week had a 10% reduced risk of death compared with those who ate such meals less than once a week. The risk was 14% lower for those who opted for hot food between three and seven days a week.

New research out of the U.S. shows that retirees who continue to work in some capacity, even part-time, are less likely to experience physical decline and disease. Researchers analyzed six years of information on the health, finances and employment status of over 12,000 men and women who were between the ages of 51 and 61 in 1992.

The notion that you cannot refreeze thawed foods is wrong, according to the US Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and inspection Service. Dietitians there say any raw or cooked food that has been thawed can be refrozen as long as it was thawed the right way and has not spoiled. —That means defrosting meat, poultry, fish and seafood in the refrigerator, not on the counter, at room temperature. The experts also say you should never thaw food by running it under warm tap water, because bacteria multiply rapidly at room temperature.

Robert Emmons, a professor of psychology at the University of California underook the first major study on gratitude. In his book Thanks! he says it’s a crucial element of happiness. Emmons says it’s about wanting what we have, and he advises that we begin by acknowledging that life is good, and that the source of life’s goodness is outside ourselves – it can be a spouse, a child, a parent or God.

According to Health.com you can use the way you breathe to fight anxiety, sleep better, and focus your attention. For instance, you may not notice, but in a stressful situation, the natural reaction is to take quick and shallow breaths, which actually increases your body’s stress response.

Why do some people seem to get old before their time while others look like they haven’t aged a day since college? A team of researchers from Duke University studied a nearly 1000 people born within a year of each other and found a huge gulf in the speed at which their bodies aged. The subjects were from the same town in New Zealand and were all born in 1972-73. The scientists looked at 18 different ageing-related traits when the group turned 26, 32 and 38 years old. They measured everything from kidney and liver function to cardiovascular fitness and the condition of their gums. They found that at the age of 38, the people's biological ages ranged from the late-20s to those who were nearly 60. In other words some people had almost stopped ageing during the period of the study, while others were gaining nearly three years of biological age for every twelve months that passed. One particularly interesting finding of the study was that the people who were physiologically older looked older, at least according to Duke undergraduates who were asked to guess their ages from their pictures. The researchers hope this work will help them prevent diseases by slowing down the the aging process.

A team of researchers from Duke University studied a nearly 1000 people born within a year of each other and found a huge gulf in the speed at which their bodies aged. The subjects were from the same town in New Zealand and were all born in 1972-73. The scientists looked at 18 different ageing-related traits when the group turned 26, 32 and 38 years old. They measured everything from kidney and liver function to cardiovascular fitness and the condition of their gums.

A study suggests that end-of-life chemotherapy is more likely to make things worse. The work in JAMA Oncology followed more than 300 patients with a prognosis of less than six months to live. About half opted for end-stage chemotherapy.

According to Swedish researchers. Exposure to noise from traffic, trains, planes and maybe even deafening restaurants could be linked to a burgeoning belly. The study in Occupational & Environmental Medicine followed 5000 people around Stockholm for four years. It found that women had a 0.08-inch increase in waist size for every additional 5 decibels in noise exposure. For men the increase was .06 inches. And the risk of a larger waist rose with the number of sources of noise someone was exposed to at the same time.

Starting formal musical training at a young age may be instrumental in preventing or delaying some types of cognitive decline in later years. A Canadian study led by scientists at the Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest has found that older adults who had musical training when they were young we're able to identify speech sounds 20% faster than their peers with a non-musical background. That means they were less likely to lose speech listening functions that weaken with age such as speech comprehension. The researchers separated healthy older adults aged 55 to 75 into groups of non-musicians and musicians who had at least 10 years of training in their younger years and were still playing.

Ben Franklin once famously said that people who are early to bed and early to rise, are healthy, wealthy, and wise. Now you can add “happy” to that list: Early risers are more likely to feel chipper and energetic than late sleepers, according to research from the University of Toronto.

Men are less likely than women to reach that milestone, but according to a study out of London, those who do tend to be healthier than their female peers. The British researchers found that women are now four times more likely than men to hit 100. But they are more likely to suffer broken bones or develop more than one chronic health problem, such as incontinence or loss of vision or hearing. Men had fewer chronic ailments. All of the centenarians were more likely to have chronic, nonfatal issues such as arthritis rather than more serious diseases like cancer or diabetes. And the study authors say they found a surprising number of 100-year-olds who had no major illnesses.

For many, if not most couples who have been together for a long time, things can get a little dull in the bedroom. Now a study says that after around 50 years of marriage, your sex life could pick up again thanks to a renewed sense of trust and commitment. Researchers at Louisiana State university analyzed the sex lives of over 1,600 adults from their late-50s all the way to their mid-80s. They noticed a slight "rebound" in how often long-married couples were having sex once they had surpassed 50 years of marriage.

A study out of Norway finds that older men doing three hours of exercise a week lived around five years longer than those who were sedentary. The research tracked 5700 men aged tracking 68 to 77. It found that those putting in the equivalent of six, 30-minute sessions of any intensity, were 40% less likely to have died during the 11-year study. While those who carried out vigorous exercise saw the highest benefits, even light intensity activity lowered mortality risk – However, anything less than an hour a week of light exercise had no impact.

Are you a foodie? It means you’re passionate about food and love trying new dishes. Many people think those of us who fit this description are indulgent and gluttonous, let along pretentious. But a study from the famous Cornell Food and Brand Lab suggests the opposite: Foodies weigh less and could be in better health than the less discerning among us

Is your event or training in sync with your body clock? British researchers found that early risers had their peak performances at mid day. Intermediate risers, people who got up around eight, did best in the afternoon and the late risers did best in the evening. Everyone did the worst at 7:00 AM.

Do you like spicy food? The science says it could help you live longer! Chinese researchers analyzed the diets of nearly 500,000 people for 7 years and found that those who ate spicy foods one or two days a week had a 10% reduced risk of death compared with those who ate such meals less than once a week. The risk was 14% lower for those who opted for hot food between three and seven days a week. The study published in BMJ said those who favoured spicy food had lower rates of heart disease, respiratory disease and cancer. The authors say that capsaicin, the main ingredient in chili peppers, had been found in other studies to have anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. The researchers still need more evidence from other populations to verify these findings before they would contemplate any change in dietary advice.

A study in the Journal of The American medical Association says people who feel younger than their actual chronological age may live longer than those who feel older than they actually are. University College London researchers asked nearly 6,500 people, with an average age of 65 "How old do you feel you are?" 70 percent of the subjects felt younger, about a quarter felt their precise age and just under 5 percent felt a year or more older.

In a paper published in Surgical Technology International , Dr. Kenneth Hansraj, explains that the average adult head weighs between 10 to 12 pounds when standing upright but becomes heavier the more we bend our necks because of gravity.

Researchers examined five years of data from 1,200 married American men and women, aged 57 to 85. People with partners who were overly critical or demanding were more likely to develop heart disease than those with supportive spouses.

We've all heard about the dangers of trans fats. Now it turns out they can do more than just clog your arteries. They might also be messing with your memory. According to findings, presented to the American Heart Association, men who ate large amounts of trans fats showed a significantly reduced ability to recall words during a memory test. The study found those with the most trans fats in their diets suffered as much as a 10% reduction in the words they could recall.

According to a new report in the American Journal of Public Health. The researchers say showing people how much activity they would have to do to burn those calories off might be a better way to convince us to change our eating habits.

The findings in the Journal Neurology found that women who were anxious, jealous or moody and stressed in middle age may be at a higher risk of developing alzheimer's later in life.

According to a study in the Archives of Gynecology and Obstetrics, it can also boost a woman’s love life. The research on more than 700 women found regular daily apple consumption can boost sexual pleasure in healthy women.

A study in the Journal of Marriage and Family finds that it’s true for older couples. Specifically, a husband who’s unhappy with his marriage is still likely to be happy with his life—if his wife gives their marriage high marks.

It's shopping season, and with more and more of us choosing to do our buying online, here are some tips for safe online practices courtesy of the Ontario government.

According to the BC-based organization, Community Against Preventable Injuries, men over 50 are more like than any other demographic to suffer a preventable injury around the holidays.

You know the famous “five-second rule” —Well scientists are now saying it’s a bunch of baloney to think we can eat dropped food as long as it’s quickly scooped off the floor. Clemson University food researchers re-visited the long debated issue in National Geographic. Though previous research has shown we may have up to a minute to rescue certain types of spilled food before it becomes contaminated, this work makes a strong case for the “zero-second rule.” The study found that salmonella and other bacteria can live up to four weeks on dry surfaces and be immediately transferred to food. The zero-tolerance standard, however, conflicts with the findings by other researchers, who found, for instance, that it takes a minute for apple slices to pick up bacteria from a college dining room floor. Still, most researchers agree that the critical thing is not time, but location. Some say it’s okay to brush off the bagel that fell from the stroller onto the sidewalk and give it to your screaming child, for example, because the pavement is cleaner than the kitchen floor in terms of the types of germs that cause illnesses. They argue the kitchen floor, however, is probably a zero-second zone because the bacteria from uncooked meat and chicken juices are more hazardous than the ‘soil’ bacteria outside. The bathroom floor is another zero-second zone because it’s a great potential source of bacteria and shorter-lived viruses that can cause gastrointestinal illness if ingested.

Here’s some good news about holidays foods – foods we should think about adding to our diets all year round. According to the famed Cleveland Clinic, they pack a big nutritional punch with vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants that may help prevent disease.

Research out of the University of California suggests that whether we’re talking about a person or a company, we place such a high premium on keeping a promise that exceeding it confers little or no additional benefit.

German researchers say they may be bad for your heart. From 2007 to 2011, the number of emergency room visits related to energy drinks, nearly doubled in the United States. Most of the cases involved young adults aged 18 to 25

But a study from Carnegie Mellon University is the first to show that brief mindfulness meditation practice can also alleviate psychological stress. The study published in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology, – found that 25 minutes for three consecutive days – can boost people's ability to be resilient under stress.

A new U.S. study suggests when older Americans regularly spend time online, they are about a third less likely to suffer from depression compared with peers who don't use the internet.

Stop wasting your money on vitamins and other dietary supplements. That is the very clear message from doctors in an editorial published in Annals of Internal Medicine. It comes in response to three large studies that showed most multivitamin supplements are not effective at reducing the risk of disease or death, and may even cause harm.

Researchers from Johns Hopkins university found caffeine can sharpen memories for up to 24 hours after it's consumed. They tested more than a hundred participants who normally did not drink coffee, tea, or Cola. The subjects were asked to look at every day images on a computer screen and, five minutes later, half were given 200 milligrams of caffeine, about the amount in a strong cup of coffee. The other half received a placebo. When they came back the next day, they were asked to label the pictures as old, new, or similar to the original images.

A study of more than 140,000 adults finds about half of people with high blood pressure -- or hypertension – have no idea they have the condition. That's worrisome, according to the study's authors, because uncontrolled high blood pressure can increase risk for heart disease, strokes and early death.

A study out of the University of Guelph finds that the majority of herbal products on the market contain ingredients not listed on the label, with most companies substituting cheaper alternatives and using fillers.

The theory is that it’s younger women who are obsessed with the way they look, and highly self-critical. But a study in The Journal of Women & Aging found the majority of women aged 50 and older are still not happy with their shape and size. What’s interesting is that this research is focused on the positive. It concentrates on the mere 12% who are happy with their bodies - in an attempt to discover the secrets of this satisfaction.` The researchers looked at more than 1700 women who participated in a larger Gender and Body Image study. Most who reported being happy with their body size were in the normal weight range and had a lower body mass index than did those who weren’t. Those in the happier group were also more likely to have been slender for most of their lives and less likely to have eating disorder symptoms. Only 10 percent reported frequent dieting, compared with 39 percent among the dissatisfied women. The satisfied women also worked harder to stay slim, too, weighing themselves at least a couple of times a week, and they exercised about five hours a week, nearly twice as much as the women who disliked their figures. Women between the ages of 35 and 44 were most dissatisfied with their bodies, but the researchers found self-image seemed to improve after that, with Zoomers over 75 having the most positive body image. So, the good news is, it’s never too late.

Are you a foodie? It means you’re passionate about food and love trying new dishes. Many people think those of us who fit this description are indulgent and gluttonous, let along pretentious. But a study from the famous Cornell Food and Brand Lab suggests the opposite: Foodies weigh less and could be in better health than the less discerning among us. The researchers asked 500 women about their weight satisfaction, lifestyle and personality traits and provided a list of 16 novel foods and asked them to report which ones they had tried. Those who had sampled nine or more of the foods on the list were considered "foodies" in the study and the rest were classified non-adventurous eaters. The research team adjusted the data to draw on possible associations between adventurous eating, BMI and body image. Those who said they had tried things like beef tongue, Kimchi and rabbit also described themselves as more concerned with the healthfulness of what they ate than did those who stuck to traditional fare. Foodies were also more physically active and their BMI’s were slightly lower than their counterparts. The study authors say these findings are important to dieters because they show that promoting adventurous eating may provide a way for people -- especially women -- to lose or maintain weight without feeling restricted by a strict diet.

Researchers analysed data from an annual survey of 5,000 households, to measure overall job satisfaction and overall satisfaction with life before and after the changes in working hours. They found putting in fewer hours had no effect on job or life satisfaction, for either men or women.

A compound in this much-maligned vegetable has been found to stop or at least slow down the most common form of arthritis.

Researchers at the University of Minnesota find having a organized workspace seems to encourage positive, generous actions, while an untidy office may stimulate creative thinking and promote new ideas.