Sports « Weekly Gravy

Lose weight. Eat healthier. Quit smoking. These are all popular New Year’s resolutions that are often only kept for a short time, if at all. About 40% of Americans make a New Year’s resolution, most of which are abandoned by February, according to researchers at Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. But Bernadette Melnyk, vice president for health promotion and chief wellness officer and dean of the College of Nursing at Ohio State, has some tips to help you make your resolutions stick: Set a realistic, specific, 30-day goal. The more specific and realistic the goal, the more likely it will be achieved. Break big goals down into small ones, and try to tackle one small change for 30 days. Many resolutions fail because people try too much, too fast. Write your goal down and put it where you can see it every day. Keep a journal of your successes and write encouraging messages to yourself. Visualize yourself accomplishing your goal and celebrating your success. If you have a positive attitude, you’re more likely to achieve your goal. Share your resolution with a friend or family member, and enlist them to help support your effort with encouraging texts and calls as you let them in on your progress. Work toward your goal one day at a time. You can always start again if you fall… read on >

If you travel a lot for business or pleasure, you may think that the most exercise possible is lugging your bags in and out of a car or through an airport. But it’s important to get in real exercise even when you’re away from home. If you’re a business road-tripper, look for snippets of time to move those muscles, like when you stop for gas. Any bodyweight calisthenics will do. Think: squats. There are many varieties, but the basic is a powerhouse move. Stand with feet a little more than shoulder-width apart, arms out in front of you. Bend the knees and push your hips back, lowering your body until your thighs are below your knees if possible. And then return to standing position. Do three sets of 10. At your hotel, do planks or push-ups and some crunches. If stuck in a car or on a plane for any length of time, try isometric exercises, where you can contract your muscles without needing to move around a lot. Put the palms of your hands together and press as hard as you can. That will engage your chest muscles. Contracting your gluteal muscles can help your lower back. Remember to hold each isometric exercise for 10 seconds. Do a few sets of 10 reps each. Once you get to your destination, if you don’t have… read on >

(HealthDay News) — Sports such as skiing, snowboarding and ice skating can sometimes lead to sprains, dislocations and fractures. In fact, some 200,000 people are treated for winter sports-related injuries every year, says the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. To avoid hurting yourself, the academy suggests: Never engage in a winter sport alone. Keep in shape and warm up sufficiently. Wear appropriate protective gear and layers of water-resistant clothing. Check that equipment is working before use. Take lessons from a qualified instructor. Drink plenty of water before, during and after the sport. Be aware of how to get help if frostbite or hypothermia occur. Pay attention to weather updates and storm warnings. Abide by all rules of the sport.

It’s hard to escape all the fanfare surrounding HIIT, or high-intensity interval training, which prevents plateaus by keeping your body at your max heart rate for very short intervals. But another training approach called steady-state training, or SST, may be just as important, if not more so, depending on what you’re trying to accomplish. Steady-state training is the opposite of HIIT yet, at the same time, is complementary to it. It involves maintaining a specific heart rate below your target maximum for an extended period of time. Using a treadmill workout as an example, with HIIT you walk for two minutes and then run all out for one minute. With SST, you walk at a brisk pace the whole way through. While HIIT is a known calorie torcher, there are plenty of pluses to SST. It’s great for strengthening the heart: Maintaining a steady state of aerobic output forces the body to become efficient at pumping oxygenated blood through the body. A constant steady state also helps the body burn fat for fuel. There also is less chance of injury than when you change pace in high-intensity interval training. So does SST have any downside? The answer is yes. You are at a higher risk for stress or repetitive injury simply because you are doing the same thing for a longer period of time over… read on >

Bad balance is a common cause of dangerous falls, especially among older adults. Falls send more than 2 million adults to the emergency room every year and often result in lengthy rehab stays. Preventing falls is a priority for staying healthy and preventing painful broken bones as you age. Easy strength and balance exercises that you can do anytime, anywhere, such as tai chi and yoga, can help you stay steady on your feet. But first it’s important to know how good (or lacking) your balance is. Grab a friend or loved one, a sturdy chair and a stopwatch to check your balance with a quick test called the single leg stance. It basically involves standing on one leg, and doctors use it to predict who might be at risk of falling. Stand barefoot in front of the chair but don’t touch it. Cross your arms. Lift one leg up off the floor and start the timer. As you feel yourself start to sway, immediately steady yourself with the chair and stop the timer. Here are the average times that indicate good balance when you stand on one leg based on age: Ages 18-39: 43 seconds for men and women Ages 40-49: 40 seconds for men and women Ages 50-59: 36 seconds for women, 38 for men Ages 60-69: 25 seconds for women, 28 for… read on >

Leave your car in the garage if you can: A new study suggests that walking or biking to work could cut your risk of a heart attack. The researchers analyzed 2011 data from 43 million working adults in England and found that 11.4% were active commuters, with 8.6% walking to work and 2.8% cycling to work. In areas where walking or cycling to work were more common in 2011, the incidence of heart attacks fell among men and women over the next two years. Major heart disease risk factors include inactivity, being overweight, smoking and diabetes, the study authors noted. After adjusting for those factors, the investigators found that women who walked to work in 2011 had a 1.7% lower risk of heart attack in the following year, and men who cycled to work had the same reduction in heart attack risk. The University of Leeds study was published online recently in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology. The findings show “that exercise as a means of commuting to work is associated with lower levels of heart attack. The benefits of regular exercise are numerous and we support initiatives to help everyone become and stay active,” study co-author Alistair Brownlee said in a university news release. Lead author Chris Gale added, “Whilst we cannot conclusively say that active travel to work lowers the risk of… read on >

With the arrival of winter, it’s time for skiing, sledding and ice skating, but it’s also when snow blindness can strike. Snow blindness is like a sunburn in the eyes. It’s caused by the same UV rays that give you that summer tan. In the case of snow blindness, the rays are reflected off the snow and into your eyes, explained experts from Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center. The cornea is the outer dome of the eye. It is covered by a thin layer of cells called the epithelial layer. UV light can burn this layer just as it burns your skin. UV burns to the cornea are called photokeratitis. Inflammation of the epithelial layer can result in blurred vision. When this happens after being outside on a bright snowy day, it is commonly referred to as snow blindness. Snow blindness can cause your eyes to feel burning, itching, stinging or intense pain. The same condition can result from being on the water or a beach as UV rays are reflected off the water or sand. Photokeratitis can also occur at high elevations where less UV light is absorbed by the atmosphere, the experts noted in a medical center news release. The best way to protect yourself is to use UV-light protective eyewear, the Ohio State team said. This can be either sunglasses or… read on >

(HealthDay News) — Before you accept the challenge of running a marathon, it’s important to make sure you and your body are prepared, says Rush University Medical Center. The school provides eight marathon training tips for the prospective runner: Get a checkup. Ask your doctor if your heart can handle the stress of a marathon. Create a marathon training plan at least four months before the race. Pace yourself. Figure out how far and fast you should run. Find shoes that fit your feet, gait and body type. Take a break. If you’re feeling achy or worn out, take the day off. Make sure you drink extra fluids throughout your training. Join a running group to stay motivated and learn practical advice. Learn how to distinguish minor strains from serious injuries.

Playing sports may improve the brain’s ability to process sounds, a finding that could lead to new therapies for people who struggle with hearing, researchers report. “No one would argue against the fact that sports lead to better physical fitness, but we don’t always think of brain fitness and sports,” said study senior author Nina Kraus. She’s a professor of communication sciences and neurobiology at Northwestern University, in Evanston, Ill. “We’re saying that playing sports can tune the brain to better understand one’s sensory environment,” added Kraus, director of the university’s Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory. The study included 495 female and male Northwestern student athletes and a control group of 493 age- and sex-matched non-athletes. The participants’ brain activity was monitored while they wore earbuds that delivered speech sounds. The athletes were more adept than those in the control group to tune out background noise to better process the speech sounds, according to the study published Dec. 9 in the journal Sports Health. That skill can be useful for athletes when they’re trying to hear a teammate or coach calling to them during a game. Kraus equated it to listening to a DJ on the radio. “Think of background electrical noise in the brain like static on the radio,” Kraus said in a university news release. “There are two ways to hear the DJ better: minimize… read on >

(HealthDay News) — Hiking in the chilly weather can be a fun way to stay active. But before you head out on the trail, it’s important to prepare for unexpected conditions. For safe winter hiking, the North Country Trail Association has this advice: Never go out alone. Always make sure someone knows where you are going. Beware of reduced visibility. Bring lights, a map and other safety items. Don’t forget food, water and a first aid kit. Always wear proper footwear, and dress in layers. Beware of hypothermia. Keep extra dry, warm clothes in your backpack.