Health/Fitness « Weekly Gravy

Despite a significant risk of head injuries in baseball and softball, helmet use in those sports is low, a new review says. “Our review demonstrates that traumatic brain injury in baseball and softball affects players of all levels and all positions,” said study lead author Dr. Michael Cusimano, a neurosurgeon at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto. “Although the risk for traumatic brain injury is lower in baseball than other, high-contact sports like hockey and football, because the injuries can lead to very serious injuries like skull fractures and bleeding in the brain caused by balls or bats, it should be considered equally as serious and addressed in a way that reflects that,” he said in a hospital news release. Cusimano and his colleagues reviewed 29 studies that included nearly 243,000 traumatic brain injuries sustained by baseball and softball players between 1982 and 2015. Playing levels extended from youth leagues all the way to Major League Baseball players. While baseball and softball had the lowest rate of traumatic head injuries compared with 15 other sports, serious brain injuries occurred once in about every 2,000 games. All formal baseball and softball leagues included in the studies required players to wear helmets. Five of the studies examined the use of protective equipment and found that only 7 percent of players who suffered traumatic brain injuries that required emergency… read on >

If you have trouble keeping slim, don’t put all the blame on your DNA. People carrying so-called “obesity” genes tend to gain more weight if they don’t work out or don’t get enough sleep, said Timothy Frayling, a professor with the University of Exeter Medical School in England. “You can’t change your genes — but they only explain part of your weight,” Frayling said. This means that even people genetically inclined to pile on pounds can curb it by eating right and exercising. Frayling and his fellow researchers tracked physical activity and sleep patterns for about 85,000 people in England, aged 40 to 70. The participants wore accelerometers that allowed researchers to estimate their amount of exercise and quality of sleep. The team also computed a genetic risk score for each person based on 76 common variants known to be associated with increased risk for obesity. Genetics accounted for some, but not all, of a person’s obesity risk, the researchers concluded. For example, a person of average height who had 10 genetic risk factors for obesity gained an average of 8 pounds during the course of their life if they tended to be couch potatoes, but only about 6 pounds if they were more physically active, the study authors said. The results were similar regarding sleeplessness. People with some genetic risk for obesity tended to… read on >

When you were growing up, Mom might have told you that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. But when you’re an adult trying to lose weight, you may not need to eat breakfast if you’re just not hungry first thing in the morning. Dieters have long been told to start the day with breakfast to stave off mid-morning hunger pangs and a dash to the breakroom for donuts. But when researchers compared the weight-loss results of a group of dieters who ate breakfast to those who didn’t, they found no differences on the scale. The study, published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, followed nearly 300 people over a 4-month period. Another study done in the United Kingdom and published in the same journal found similar results. While skipping breakfast in an attempt to starve yourself could backfire and find you gorging at lunchtime, it’s OK to simply wait until you’re really hungry to eat your first meal of the day. Postponing the calorie intake could give you more flexibility later on, should you have a snack craving at midday or want an extra protein portion at dinner. Another option is to eat a very small morning meal, like a half-cup of cereal with a splash of nonfat milk. If you’ll be on the run and unable to stop when hunger… read on >