| Unfit men working long hours face greater heart risk, study shows Poor physical fitness and working more than 45 hours a week is potentially lethal combination for men aged 40-59Unfit, middle-aged men who work more than 45 hours a week are more than twice as likely to die of heart disease as those who devote less time to their jobs, new research medical research warns today.It identifies the combination of poor physical fitness and working for unusually long hours as a potentially lethal combination for men aged between 40 and 59. However, men who manage to remain physically active into middle age are not at risk, emphasising the health benefits of regular exercise.The findings in the study, in the medical journal Heart, reinforce the health risks being run by men in that age group who are part of Britain's long hours culture. Working excessive hours is thought to damage cardiovascular health by causing someone's heart rate and blood pressure to go up and stay raised for long periods. This happens whether the work itself is physically demanding or not.The heart health and physical fitness levels of some 5,000 Danish men aged 40-59 working for 14 companies was examined for 30 years by a team from the National Research Centre for Denmark's Working Environment.Participants did cycling tests to indicate how fit they are and disclosed how many hours they worked a week. More than two-thirds worked between 41 and 45 hours, but almost one in five clocked up more than 45 hours.Among unfit men, those who were in the latter category were more than twice as likely to die of heart trouble than those who worked for less than 40 hours.Heart health campaigners said that the study underlined the need for middle-aged men to maintain a good level of fitness by taking part in regular physical exercise, despite the pressures on their time.Dr Jane Landon, deputy director of the National Heart Forum, a coalition of 65 health organisations which aims to reduce the damage done by poor heart health, said: "Men in this age group don't need to be doing extreme sports but they do need to be keeping physically fit by, for example, walking or cycling or even doing gardening or DIY, which all contribute to a good level of fitness."Men's risk of developing heart trouble increases as they head into middle age, and is heightened if they put on weight, or have a poor diet or are unfit. The research's conclusion that fit men of the same age and working patterns as those who are unfit proved the protective effects of regular exercise, she said.Cathy Ross, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, said that men should try to be physically active for at least 30 minutes at a time five times a week. "We already know that working long hours can increase blood pressure, a known risk factor for cardiovascular disease."Being physically active helps to control your blood pressure and previous studies have shown that being physically fit can help you cope with the demands of long hours, physically demanding jobs and shift work," she said."This study adds to these findings by demonstrating that men who are physically active as part of their everyday life do not increase their risk of coronary heart disease, irrespective of the number of hours they work."Heart attackHealthMedical researchDenis Campbellguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
US-born panda gives birth to her 8th cub in China By 2010-09-19T06:47:11ZBEIJING (AP) -- An American-born panda gave birth to her eighth cub in southwest China, a rare accomplishment for the endangered species known for being poor breeders.... hosted.ap.org |
Georges Charpak, Physics Nobel Winner, Dies at 86 Mr. Charpak won the prize in 1992 for inventing a device to sift through the billions of hurtling subatomic particles liberated by collisions in atom smashers. feeds.nytimes.com |
Swiss celebrate digging world's longest tunnel By FRANK JORDANS 2010-10-16T01:18:59ZSEDRUN, Switzerland (AP) -- Workers hugged, cheered and set off fireworks as the huge drill broke through the last stretch of rock deep in the Swiss Alps. There was delight at the end of the tunnel - the world's longest - when it was completed Friday.... hosted.ap.org |
David Attenborough's big dig Silbury Hill is as ancient and enigmatic as Stonehenge. David Attenborough tells Jonathan Jones why he set out to crack it'The past," says David Attenborough, "is a haunting and fascinating place." The great naturalist is revealing a little-known side of himself: his love of archaeology – and his fascination with Silbury Hill in Wiltshire. The tallest prehistoric man-made mound in Europe, Silbury Hill rises to a height of 37 metres, making it comparable with the Egyptian pyramids and the ziggurats of Mesopotamia.In a new English Heritage book about the hill, Attenborough tells how, in 1968 as controller of BBC2, he commissioned a programme that involved tunnelling into its depths to discover why it was there. At the time, the programme was judged a flop, since it found no treasure, no tomb, no real answers at all.Attenborough is now seeking to set the record straight. He argues that, far from failing, TV's first live dig triggered an unlikely chain of events that recently led to the tunnel being reopened and re-examined, using modern techniques. "They did not unearth any material treasure either," he writes, but instead "added more details to our knowledge and understanding." And this, you could say, is the true purpose of archaeology. In fact, the reopening of the tunnel vindicated the project Attenborough is so proud of: it revealed perhaps as much as will ever be known about this most mysterious of ancient monuments.Silbury Hill is near Avebury, a quaint English village set inside a prehistoric stone circle. The village is part of a world heritage site that takes in Stonehenge and Silbury Hill. Raised in the same era as the mighty Stonehenge, and just as much of an enigma, the hill boasts chalk sides covered with grass. Construction of the vast, flat-topped cone would have required hundreds of workers and taken an age, but the people who built it left no records as to why.BBC2 was a new channel in the 60s, with a brief to experiment. "We were going to do new television," says Attenborough. "Everything we did would be in some way identifiable as new. With archaeology we thought, 'Why can't we do a live excavation?' We would have cameras there so, if necessary, we could interrupt other programmes."The plan was to dig a tunnel into the heart of the hill. Professor Richard Atkinson, who led the dig, had interesting ideas about what might be in there. "Richard was the first to notice Mycenean daggers on Stonehenge," says Attenborough. These made Atkinson believe Stonehenge was built by a culture in contact with ancient Greece, whose chief wanted a dramatic tomb.This was TV as real adventure, and it captured the public imagination. Some saw it as a treasure hunt; others as a mix of horror and science-fiction. "Atkinson," says Attenborough, "didn't necessarily think there was going to be a burial [site]. The press said, 'This is a treasure hunt, isn't it?' I said, 'No, it's about little bits of mud.'"As the tunnel took shape, with news reported continually, nothing much emerged. "People kept saying, 'It's a failure,'" says Attenborough. "But we did discover how it was made." Some people maintained the dig was actually harmful. "Since then, if there have been slumps in the top, people have said, 'Ah ha, it's the BBC's tunnel.' "In 2000, not just a slump but a hole appeared. Was the tunnel collapsing? No: this was caused by an 18th-century shaft, but archaeologists were still worried. They decided to reopen the BBC tunnel, deploying the latest tools and tests, and then seal it forever.The new dig suggested that the hill was not a tomb, but a temple – perhaps the greatest in Europe 4,000 years ago. It also showed the hill started as a sacred site, where people came bearing stones; they may have believed they possessed healing powers. Certainly, stones are embedded in the structure and are thought to be highly meaningful by archaeologists. It is like Britain's later cathedrals, which rose up over shrines. Sun worship flourished in prehistoric Britain, so perhaps this was – like those ancient ziggurats – a stairway to heaven to let priests get closer to the sun.Atkinson's tunnel is now sealed, but its creation marked a time when TV set out to bring drama and glamour to archaeology. As Attenborough says: "Anybody would be thrilled to find a Roman coin in their garden. I know I would."David AttenboroughTelevisionArchaeologyJonathan Jonesguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |