Very interesting…

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Women More Affected Than Men by Air Pollution When Running Marathons

ScienceDaily (Mar. 5, 2010) — Poor air quality apparently affects the running times of women in marathons, according to a study by Virginia Tech civil and environmental engineer Linsey Marr

Marr’s findings come from a comprehensive study that evaluated marathon race results, weather data, and air pollutant concentrations in seven marathons over a period of eight to 28 years. The top three male and female finishing times were compared with the course record and contrasted with air pollutant levels, taking high temperatures that were detrimental to performance into consideration.

Higher levels of particles in the air were associated with slower running times for women, while men were not significantly affected, Marr said. The difference may be due to the smaller size of women’s tracheas, which makes it easier for certain particles to deposit there and possibly to cause irritation

“Although pollution levels in these marathons rarely exceeded national standards for air quality, performance was still affected,” Marr said.

Her work, done in collaboration with Matthew Ely, an exercise physiologist at the U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine, appears in the official journal of the American College of Sports Medicine, Medicine and Science in Sports & Exercise. Read the Rest here.

go girls!

Physical fitness increases your cognitive abilities!

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Building Fit Minds Under Stress

ScienceDaily (Feb. 17, 2010) — A University of Pennsylvania-led study in which training was provided to a high-stress U.S. military group preparing for deployment to Iraq has demonstrated a positive link between mindfulness training, or MT, and improvements in mood and working memory. Mindfulness is the ability to be aware and attentive of the present moment without emotional reactivity or volatility.

The study found that the more time participants spent engaging in daily mindfulness exercises the better their mood and working memory, the cognitive term for complex thought, problem solving and cognitive control of emotions. The study also suggests that sufficient MT practice may protect against functional impairments associated with high-stress challenges that require a tremendous amount of cognitive control, self-awareness, situational awareness and emotional regulation.

To study the protective effects of mindfulness training on psychological health in individuals about to experience extreme stress, cognitive neuroscientist Amishi Jha of the Department of Psychology and Center for Cognitive Neuroscience at Penn and Elizabeth A. Stanley of Georgetown University provided mindfulness training for the first time to U.S. Marines before deployment. Jha and her research team investigated working memory capacity and affective experience in individuals participating in a training program developed and delivered by Stanley, a former U.S. Army officer and security-studies professor with extensive experience in mindfulness techniques. Read the full study here.

Get ready for the military and WORKOUT!

very interesting!! Could it be because their population is rising in the U.S.??

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Mexican-Americans Come Closest to Meeting National Physical Activity Goals

ScienceDaily (Feb. 10, 2010) — When it comes to meeting national health goals for physical activity, Mexican-Americans are the most active group in America and may benefit from exercise that researchers typically have not measured, according to research by scholars at the University of Chicago and Arizona State University.

The new research, which used electronic devices to measure people’s movement, challenges other studies based on self-reports that claimed non-Hispanic whites are most likely to be physically active.

The researchers found that nearly 27 percent of Mexican-Americans met a national goal of getting at least 30 minutes of moderate activity five days a week or vigorous activity for 20 minutes at least three days a week; about 20 percent of whites and 15 percent of blacks achieved that level of exercise.

In research based on self-reports, 36 percent of whites and 25 percent of blacks and Mexican-Americans said they met the activity standard. That information appears in an article, “Disparities in Data on Healthy People 2010 Physical activity Objectives Collected by Accelerometry and Self-Report,” published online Feb. 11 in the American Journal of Public Health.

“Those self-reported findings attributing higher activity levels in non-Hispanic whites show that people are likely to have difficulty estimating their activity levels,” said Sandra Ham, now a graduate student at the University of Chicago, who based the paper on her work as a researcher with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. read the rest here.

Mexican Americans are not your average couch potato!

very interesting…my personal favorite fat burning supplement is John Scott Nitro’ s 24/7 Burn Extreme

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Weight-Loss Supplement Has Potential to Burn Fair Amount of Calories

ScienceDaily (Feb. 3, 2010) — A new weight-loss supplement tested by the University of Oklahoma Health and Exercise Science Department has the potential to burn as many calories as a 20-minute walk, according to Joel T. Cramer, assistant professor of exercise physiology.

Cramer says General Nutrition Centers contracted with OU to test the weight-loss benefits of the nutritional supplement called the tri-pepper blend, which contains black pepper, caffeine and a concentrated form of capsaicin — the ingredient that makes red peppers hot. The OU study showed energy expenditures of three to six percent, results which are statistically significant enough to validate product weight-loss claims, Cramer said.

A group of participants in the study were given the supplement or a placebo followed by a metabolic rate test. The study measured oxygen consumed and carbon dioxide produced by participants to determine the arresting metabolic rate of each after receiving the supplements. The study confirmed the viability of the weight loss supplement.

Fat loss supplements…to take? or not to take?

For all of you exercise-holics here’s a great study for you!

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Over-Training Counterproductive, Expert Says

ScienceDaily (Jan. 31, 2010) — Challenging yourself in fitness training is good. But overdoing training is counterproductive to realizing your fitness goals, says Butler University’s Adrian Shepard, assistant director of recreation overseeing fitness. Over-training, also called over-exercising, he said, happens when you’re “not allowing your body the opportunity to adjust, adapt and recuperate in response to the training regimen you’re taking part in.”

Shepard says, besides sore muscles, there are other clear signs that a person is over-training.

They include:

• Decrease in performance.
• Increase in a person’s resting heart rate and blood pressure.
• Increased muscle fatigue, disturbed sleep patterns and gastro-intestinal disturbances.
• Depression, irritability, apathy, and low self-esteem.

Fitness center staffers concerned that a client might be over-training should approach the issue tactfully, if they want to direct the client to a healthier approach, Shepard said. “Befriend them. Get to know what they’re doing and why they’re doing it. Find out what they are training for? Do they realize that what they’re doing is harmful to their bodies?” By understanding the root of the over-training, the fitness professional can then provide helpful guidance and resources to the client.

Shepard suggests three steps to avoid over-training from day one:

1. Gradually work your way into exercise, especially if you are a beginner, are recovering from an injury, or have been physically inactive for some time. read the rest here.

take a break!