Every parent knows that overscheduling kids is a no-no. Not only is it exhausting for parents, who must cart those little people from place to place, but kids need time to relax. Or do they?
Exercise
If You Can Balance On One Leg, You Might Live Longer
We’ve all known that physical fitness and dexterity are related, and that fitness and longevity are related. But who knew that dexterity and long life had a correlation all their own?
Study: Brain Injuries On the Rise Among Teen Basketball Players
As childhood obesity reaches epidemic levels, anything that gets kids moving should be encouraged. But children’s sports are competitive these days. Whether at school or on traveling or club teams, young athletes are training …
On a Trip to Mars, Astronauts’ Muscles Could Waste Away
They have treadmills and exercise bikes, but astronauts do not maintain muscle mass during long space voyages — a finding that suggests big problems on manned missions to other planets.
Pumping Iron? A Lighter Load May Give Better Results
Enough with the grunting and groaning at the gym already. New research this week in PLoS One shows that, to build muscle, it’s more effective to lift a lighter weight many times than to lift a heavy load that you can only manage …
Anxious kids? Let Them Walk to School
A stroll to school in the morning can help kids prep for the stresses that await them in the classroom. They’ll have less severe increases in heart rate and blood pressure when they’re put on the spot, and will feel less anxious about it to boot — or at least that’s the implication from a new study by researchers at the University of …
Which comes first, inactivity or childhood obesity?
New research highlighted by the BBC and published in the Archives of Disease in Childhood suggests that the common understanding of the relationship between physical activity and childhood obesity may possibly present things in the wrong order. That is, while it’s a widely held belief — and premise of the First Lady’s Let’s Move
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Active youth linked to lower risk for cognitive decline
A new study analyzing physical activity at different phases of life for more than 9,000 elderly women finds that routine exercise at any age was associated with a reduced risk for cognitive decline or dementia, but that regular physical activity during teenage years was most strongly linked to a lower risk for mental deterioration later
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Biking versus brisk walking: weight control for women
Riding a bicycle helps women keep their weight down in middle-age, a new study finds. Even small increases in time spent biking — of 5 min. or less per day — are associated with less weight gain as women age.
Youth hockey: checking associated with higher injury risk
Recent increases in the number of youth hockey players suffering concussions after collisions on the ice prompted a team of Canadian researchers to investigate how body-checking rules in Pee Wee hockey leagues factors into injury incidence. In a study of more than 2,000 youth hockey players from Alberta and Quebec — roughly half of
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Do compression clothes really impact sport performance?
Two new studies from researchers at Indiana University suggest that the new fad of athletes wearing compression clothing to enhance performance may be little more than that, a fad. In two separate inquiries analyzing the effect of compression legwear on athletic performance, Abigail Laymon and Nathan Eckert both found no evidence for
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What does a clean house have to do with health?
If you have a clean house, chances are, you’ve also got a fit body, according to new research by physical activity expert NiCole Keith at Indiana University.
Keith’s team looked at the relationship between physical activity levels in urban African American adults and a range of factors in their residential environments — …
How exercise works at the cellular level
We all know that exercise is good for us, but do we know why? How do those hours of sweating it out on a treadmill or pushing yourself in a weight training regimen actually help your cells and tissues to get healthier?
Two papers by separate groups may provide some intriguing answers. One team, led by researchers at the …
