Runners put a lot of thought into how much they must eat and drink to endure a 26.2-mile marathon, properly fueling their bodies to sustain a record-setting pace. But the quality of the air they huff and puff during endurance events could also play a key role in their performance, a new study says. Higher levels of air pollution are associated with slower average marathon finish times, according to findings published recently in the journal Sports Medicine. “Runners at that level are thinking about their gear, their nutrition, their training, the course, even the weather,” lead researcher Elvira Fleury, a doctoral student at Harvard University, said in a news release. “Our results show that those interested in optimizing athletic performance should consider the effect of air pollution, as well.” Runners’ average finish times on a marathon steadily decreased for every increase in particle pollution of one microgram per cubic meter of air, results show. Men finished 32 seconds slower on average for every increased unit of air pollution, and women finished 25 seconds slower, researchers found. These effects also appeared to be more pronounced in faster-than-average runners, researchers said. “This means that air pollution can be a health risk not just for those who are elderly or susceptible — it can negatively affect even the most healthy and well-trained among us,” senior researcher Joseph Braun,…  read on >  read on >

Abortion pills are safe and effective, but some pain will be part of the process for most women. However, many women are surprised by exactly how much pain is involved in a medication abortion, a new study says. They’re frequently told that the pain is akin to period cramps, but for many that simply isn’t so. “Benchmarking against period pain has long been used as a way to describe the pain associated with medical abortion, despite the wide variability of period pain experienced,” Hannah McCulloch, a sexual and reproductive health researcher with the British Pregnancy Advisory Service in London, England said in a news release. But “for many respondents, using period pain as a reference point for what to expect was not helpful for managing expectations, or in line with their experiences,” McCulloch added. In fact, the pain is so intense for some women that they told researchers they might have chosen a surgical abortion if they’d known, according to results published in the journal BMJ Sexual & Reproductive Health. “Pain was so much stronger than period pain, it was like having contractions in labor,” one study participant said. “I’ve given birth three times and the pain really wasn’t too much different from that pain, the cramping contraction pain.” Another participant described her pain “like someone squeezing my stomach muscles, like my insides were being…  read on >  read on >

There may be something special about team sports in childhood that helps sharpen a kids’ brain, new research shows. Children who were on soccer or volleyball teams scored higher on tests of “executive function” — thinking skills needed to organize, remember details, make decisions and stay focused — compared to kids who didn’t play sports or played individual sports only, the new study discovered. “Scientific data indicate that playing a team sport like soccer improves executive function skills, which are among the most key life skills of all,” Dr. Alison Brooks wrote in a journal commentary accompanying the new study. She’s professor of orthopedics at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. The new study was published Dec. 17 in the journal JAMA Network Open. It was conducted in The Netherlands and led by Lu Yang, a graduate medical student at the University Medical Center Groningen. Yang’s team looked at data on almost 900 schoolchildren tracked from 2006 through 2017. The kids were assessed at two age periods: Ages 5 to 6 and then again at 10 to 11. Data was compiled on their daily physical activity (including sports participation), and they were also given cognitive tests measuring executive function at around the age of 11. The research showed that “moderate” levels of overall physical activity in early life had no significant impact on the kids’…  read on >  read on >

Does a crowded neighborhood make you move more? Yes, says new research that found people who live in highly populated areas walk more than people who live in less densely populated areas.   Since more walking is connected to better health, generally speaking, the extra steps can make a big difference in terms of promoting an active lifestyle and public health, said lead study author Glen Duncan, a Washington State University nutrition and exercise physiology professor. “We have so many people in the U.S. population who don’t get sufficient activity. If we could shift the percentage of the population that just took on more plain old walking, we would see real health benefits,” Duncan said in a university news release. In other words, improving local walkability, and getting more Americans to walk, can potentially boost the health of the entire population. For this study, researchers examined twins’ activity levels by location. Neighborhoods were deemed walkable based on an index that measures the density of people, roads and desirable places to walk to — destinations such as stores, parks, restaurants and coffee shops.  The study analyzed data from surveys of 5,477 pairs of twins who lived in various parts of the United States. Data from 2009 to 2020 — which included information about where people lived, the number of minutes they walked in a typical week and…  read on >  read on >

Seniors who want to stay sharp as they age should hit the treadmill, elliptical or exercise bike as often as possible. A new study shows that better cardio fitness in older age is linked to healthier brain aging. That sort of fitness preserves brain health as people age even if they carry genetic risk factors that make them vulnerable to Alzheimer’s disease, researchers reported Dec. 10 in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. “We found that cardiorespiratory fitness, which predicts the onset of numerous diseases and can be modified by regular exercise, was positively associated with cognitive performance across all domains assessed,” concluded the research team led by Kirk Erickson, director of translational research at AdventHealth Research Institute in Orlando, Fla. For the study, researchers recruited nearly 650 brain-healthy seniors ages 65 to 80 and tested their cardio fitness using a graded treadmill running test. Their brain power was also assessed with a comprehensive battery of tests carried out over two days. Previous research has linked cardio fitness to a reduced risk of age-related brain decline and dementia, but it’s not clear which aspects of brain function cardio specifically boosts, researchers said in background notes. The cognitive tests assessed five different types of brain function. These included processing speed, short-term working memory, long-term episodic memory, planning and organizational skills and the ability to interpret visual…  read on >  read on >

Want to give your brain a boost for tomorrow? Get in a little pulse-pounding exercise today, a new study shows. In a finding that suggests the benefits of exercise may linger longer than believed, researchers discovered that middle-aged adults and seniors perform better on memory tests even a full day after they’ve had some moderate to vigorous physical activity. “Moderate or vigorous activity means anything that gets your heart rate up — this could be brisk walking, dancing or walking up a few flights of stairs. It doesn’t have to be structured exercise,” said lead researcher Mikaela Bloomberg, a senior research fellow in social epidemiology with the University College London’s Institute of Epidemiology & Health Care. “Our findings suggest that the short-term memory benefits of physical activity may last longer than previously thought, possibly to the next day instead of just the few hours after exercise,” Bloomberg said in a UCL news release. People ages 50 to 84 also did better on memory tests if they spent less time sitting the day before or got six or more hours of sleep. Exercise is known to provide a short-term brain boost by increasing blood flow to the brain, and by stimulating the release of neurochemicals that support many different cognitive functions, researchers explained in background notes. These brain chemical changes are known to last at least…  read on >  read on >

Take the stairs. Tote heavy shopping bags. Walk up that hill. Play tag with a kid or a pet. Weaving these tiny bursts of vigorous physical activity into everyday life can halve a woman’s risk of a heart attack, a new study shows. An average of four daily minutes of this sort of activity appears to protect the heart health of women who don’t otherwise exercise, researchers reported Dec. 3 in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. “We found that a minimum of 1.5 minutes to an average of four minutes of daily vigorous physical activity, completed in short bursts lasting up to one minute, were associated with improved cardiovascular health outcomes in middle-aged women who do no structured exercise,” said lead researcher Emmanuel Stamatakis, a professor of physical activity, lifestyle and population health at the University of Sydney in Australia. Specifically, women were 51% less likely to have a heart attack and 67% less likely to develop heart failure if they engaged in these short bursts of activity, compared to women who were completely sedentary, researchers found. “Making short bursts of vigorous physical activity a lifestyle habit could be a promising option for women who are not keen on structured exercise or are unable to do it for any reason,” Stamatakis said in a university news release. For the study, researchers analyzed data on…  read on >  read on >

It’s common to find a pitcher soaking their elbow in an ice bucket following a baseball game, in an effort to save their arm for tomorrow’s innings. But athletes about to hit the turf would be better off soaking their aching muscles and joints in a hot tub rather than an ice bath, researchers report in a new small-scale study. A hot soak appears to improve exercise performance among athletes, researchers found. On the other hand, cold soaks are better for lowering inflammation, swelling and fatigue, results show. “While post-exercise [cold water immersion] is common on the sports field, cooling does not always have a positive effect on exercise capacity,” lead researcher Mamoru Tsuyuki, a master’s student in sports and health science at Ritsumeikan University in Shiga, Japan, said in a news release. For the study, researchers asked a small group of endurance athletes to perform 50 minutes of high-intensity interval running, followed by 20 minutes of either a cold-water soak at 59 degrees Fahrenheit or a hot-water tub at 104 degrees F. One hour after the workout, researchers measured the athletes’ jump height and blood levels of enzymes that indicate muscle soreness. The athletes jumped higher after a hot soak compared to a cold soak, results show.  “The novel findings from our study are that post-exercise hot water immersion promoted recovery of muscle power…  read on >  read on >