NR supplements help repair mitochondria

‘Mighty Mitos’ enable healthy cell activity

The comedian Andy Kaufman used to lipsync part of the 1950s “Mighty Mouse” cartoon theme song: “Here I come to save the day!” Well, another Mighty Mouse — several, actually — recently made their debut in a study published in the journal Nature, titled “Nicotinamide Riboside Preserves Cardiac Function in a Mouse Model of Dilated Cardiomyopathy.” One day they might save the day, too, for your heart and brain.

In a recent column, we described how your mitochondria, the power plants in each cell in your body, enable every cell’s healthy metabolic activity. If these Mighty Mitos cannot deliver the energy your body needs, various organ systems suffer. Well, it’s now known that as we age those Mighty Mitos may not get the support they need to do their job from a coenzyme called nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, shortened to NAD. But, according to that Nature study, boosting NAD by taking its precursor, nicotinamide riboside (a form of niacin or vitamin B-3) may help re-power the mitochondria and protect aging organs and the brain.

The researchers reported that mice with heart problems have lower NAD levels — and so do humans with heart diseases. Further, they said that giving mice more nicotinamide riboside improves their heart health, by restoring NAD levels. And even more amazing, once the mice had more fuel for the Mighty Mitos, they became Mightier Mice! Seems the NAD boost also improved memory impairment! Very encouraging. All we can say is that they may “B” on to something that will help give you a mightily younger RealAge!

MAKING KIDS SOCCER SAFER: WARMUP IS KEY

There’s a soccer training camp called De Toekomst (The Future) where kids as young as seven from around The Netherlands are brought, having been spotted as potential professionals. Now, Ajax, the Dutch soccer club that runs the camp, is “flying in their worldfamous youth coaches, directly from their famed Academy in Amsterdam,” to start training young American players (914) this summer in California.

That’s way too early for specialization! But even when children play more than one sport and take time off from practices during the week, they can get hurt. In youth soccer, accidents mainly involve broken bones and injuries to upper extremities, say sports scientists who authored a new study published in the journal Sports Medicine. And they’ve also found how to dramatically reduce the youngsters’ soccer injuries.

Working with 243 youth teams, the researchers used a 20-minute warm-up routine, called FIFA 11+ Kids. It consists of three exercises focused on the stability of the lower extremities (hopping, jumping and landing); three on whole body and trunk strength/stability; and one on falling technique. The difficulty levels increased with each kids’ age (from 7 to 13) and maturityrelated performance and differences in motor skills. After one soccer season, the overall injury rate of teams that followed the program was 48 per cent lower than control groups, while the rate of severe injury fell by as much as 74 per cent!

So if you have a junior Carli Lloyd or Yaya Toure, talk to the coach about doing this style of warmup before every game. Score!

HEART HEALTH DO-OVER: YOU HAVE THE POWER

In the 2013 movie “About Time,” 21-year-old Tim Lake decides to use newly discovered powers to travel back in time and win over the girl of his dreams. His success emboldens him to “fix” more past events, threatening the future. As with most time-travel tales, the lesson is, “You don’t get a doover.”

Well, nothing could be further from the truth when it comes to past health mistakes and your future well-being! Dr. Mike’s book “This Is Your Do-Over: The 7 Secrets to Losing Weight, Living Longer, and Getting a Second Chance at the Life You Want” makes that crystal clear.

And now, a new study, Reversing the Cardiac Effects of Sedentary Aging in Middle Age, reveals that with two years of regular exercise, most out-ofshape, sedentary middle-agers can improve heart health and reduce their risk of heart failure!

The participants’ routine included four to five days of activity weekly:

• One 30-minute session of high-intensity, aerobic interval training (heart rate tops 95 per cent of peak rate for four minutes, with three minutes of recovery), repeated four times. Check with your doctor before you begin, then build up to it!

• One session of moderate intensity for 60 minutes — tennis, walking or biking qualify.

• One or two additional 30minute weekly sessions of moderate intensity; you’re sweaty, but you can still talk. (Try interval walking, heading for 10,000 steps.)

• Then, one or two weekly strength-training sessions on separate days, or after an aerobic session.

So take charge, and you’ll be rewarded with a change in the quality and length of your future timeline!

HAUNTED BY NEGATIVE THOUGHTS? IT MAY BE A SLEEP PROBLEM

In a popular 2017 “SNL” skit, Ryan Gosling plays a weirdly troubled man. “I thought it was behind me, but the dreams came back,” he narrates. “I was up all night. I can’t eat. I can’t sleep ... I forgot about it for years, but then I remembered that ‘Avatar,’ the giant international blockbuster, used the Papyrus font as its logo. [The graphic artist] just highlighted ‘Avatar,’ he clicked the dropdown menu, and then he just randomly selected Papyrus.”

Chances are when you fixate on a negative thought or image — no matter how trivial — it may be because you aren’t sleeping long or well enough. That’s the conclusion of researchers in a new study published in the Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry. They found that people who had a harder time falling asleep and poorer quality sleep were more likely to fixate on negative, intrusive thoughts and be drawn to negative images. It can happen during the day and when trying to fall asleep (vicious cycle). And that inability to move on from negative images and thoughts also makes them vulnerable to anxiety and depression.

If this sounds familiar, treatment for sleep disorders (not just knockout pills!) and for emotional challenges can work together to improve your mood and your overall health. And since depression, anxiety and lack of sleep are associated with increased risk of certain cancers, heart woes, obesity and relationship problems, take these steps: Check out the “Sleep” topic at www.doctoroz.com. And find a

therapist at www.findcbt.org. DON’T WORRY, GUYS; BIKE RIDING WON’T MESS WITH YOUR REPRODUCTIVE AND URINARY SYSTEMS

When Miguel Indurain won the Tour de France five times from 1991 to 1995, he may not have had fatherhood on his mind (getting over those Pyrenees was challenge enough). But his two sons, Miguel and Jon, born shortly after his last victory, seem to validate a new study debunking the often-reported damage that cycling can do to a man’s reproductive and urinary systems.

The study in the Journal of Urology included 2,774 recreational and intense cyclists, 539 swimmers and 789 runners. High-intensity cyclists had been pedaling more than two years, more than three times per week, averaging more than 25 miles daily; the lowintensity group met none of these criteria.

The researchers gathered participants’ responses to a variety of health assessments and surveys, as well as questions about UTIs, urethral strictures, genital numbness and saddle sores. The results: Cyclist generally had the same sexual and urinary health as swimmers and runners, and high-intensity cyclists scored better on erectile function than did low-intensity cyclists. Not surprising, since exercise equals better general — and sexual — health.

True, some cyclists were more prone to urethral strictures, genital numbness and saddle sores. But better bikes, riding garb, seats, tires and routes can reduce their risks.

With nearly 12,000 miles of U.S. Bicycle Route System approved in 25 states (it’ll hit 50,000 miles when completed) plus thousands of city bike lanes, guys are good to go! Now let’s see if you can keep up with American bike racer Megan Guarnier, overall winner of 2017’s Women’s World Tour series!