SportsGeezer

Deep Thoughts About Gut Instincts

If you suspect that this post is going to be useless, you are probably right. On the other hand, if you suspect that this post will reveal something that could change your life, you are also probably right. In fact, whatever you think right of the bat is probably right, or at least somewhat right. That's the proposition of Gerd Gigerenzer, a German social psychologist whose ideas were popularized by writer Malcolm Gladwell.  In this interview, the New York Times chats with Gigerenzer about why gut feelings are very often right on the money, and why Ben Franklin was wrong when he advised his nephew that when he made important life decisions, he should do it like a bookkeeper — list all the pros and cons and then make the decision, after weighing everything. Read more about the power of gut instincts in the New York Times.

Why Some Women Run Faster As They Grow Older: They Figure Out That It's OK to Try

New York Times science writer and amateur runner Gino Kolata noticed something peculiar about results of races she was running in: older women seemed to have better times than younger women. In a recent 5K in Pine Beach, New Jersey, the fastest woman was 37 years old; the fastest woman in the 45 to 49 age group beat the fastest woman in the 20 to 24 and the 40 to 44 age groups. Kolata reports that the same thing happened in another five-kilometer local race, the Eden Family Run, in Princeton, N.J. There, the top female runner in the 50 to 54 age group beat the top females in the 20 to 24, 25 to 29, and 40 to 44 age groups.
Kolata's effort to find out what's up with that takes her to Mary Wittenberg, president of New York Road Runners, who thinks part of the answer is that most female runners shortchange themselves. Look at them before races she said. Men warm up and do strides, short runs to prepare to take off at the starting line. A lot of women hang back, often because they are embarrassed to be out there with the men, acting like determined athletes, Ms. Wittenberg said.“They are too inhibited to put their full passion out there,” she said. “They are almost afraid to be serious about a sport. They think that if they’re not the best, they shouldn’t care so much.”
Kolata also talks to Dr. Vonda Wright, an orthopedic surgeon at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center who holds running clinics for beginners and for those who want to compete. Wright tells her that women often get the impression that they should not put much effort into runs. That’s the message of some ads and magazine articles telling people to run easy, and that, Dr. Wright said, “can be negative information” for women who might like to compete. It is too tempting, she said, “to be lulled into thinking that’s enough.”
Interesting. Read more in the New York Times.

Outside Magazine's 10 Best Wilderness Lodges

Even if you, gentle reader, have no intention, or, as in Geezer's case, insufficient funds to luxuriate in these spectacular retreats, fantasizing about them is a pleasant way to kill an afternoon in the office. Geezer's fantasies fall naturally towards Outside's recommendation in Colorado: the 10,700 foot hight Irwin Lodge, outside Crested Butte. Enjoy.

2007 U.S. Fat Report Shows Mississippi Fattest State, Colorado Leanest

The bad news in the 2007 Trust for America's Health report is that obesity rates rose in 31 states. The good news not yet apparent. The annual report, started four years ago, found that Mississippi topped the list with the highest rate of adult obesity in the country for the third year in a row. That state is now the first to reach a rate of over 30 percent (at 30.6 percent). Colorado was the leanest state again this year, although its adult obesity rate increased over the past year (from 16.9 to 17.6 percent). Ten of the 15 states with the highest rates of adult obesity are located in the South. Rates of adult obesity now exceed 25 percent in 19 states, an increase from 14 states last year and 9 in 2005. In 1991, none of the states exceeded 20 percent.
Geezer continues his search for good news. In the mean time, read the bad news here.

A Single Soda a Day Hikes Heart Health Risk 48 Percent

OK, so we never thought soda was good for you, but who figured that just one soda a day--either regular or diet — would be associated with a 48 percent increased risk of metabolic syndrome, a key predecessor of heart disease and diabetes? That, at least, is the conclusion of one medical researcher at Boston University. The L.A. Times reports that the study, sponsored by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, looked at more than 2,400 middle-age white residents of Framingham, Mass. At the beginning of the study, those who had consumed more than one soda per day — either regular or diet — had a 48% higher risk of having metabolic syndrome.  The team then focused on the more than 1,600 people who did not have metabolic syndrome at the start of the study and followed them for at least four years. The Times reports that those who drank at least one soda a day had a 44% higher risk of developing metabolic syndrome during the four years of the study.
The paper reports that those who drank at least one soda per day also had:
•  a 31% greater risk of becoming obese;
•  a 30% higher risk of having a larger waist line;
•  a 25% higher risk of developing high blood triglycerides or high blood sugar;
•  a 32% greater risk of having low levels of good cholesterol;
•  a trend toward an increased risk of high blood pressure.
Read more in the L.A. Times.

How Not To Behave in Yoga Class

Six Ways to Ice Away the Pain

Men's Journal offers six increasingly expensive ways to chill away the pain of an overly aggressive workout, or perhaps collision, from Geezer's preferred method --a bag of frozen peas- to a $2,500 device that pumps air and circulates ice water through fitted sleeves in a cycle of cold and compression. Most useful: the magazine's advice on how to chill:During the first 24-48 hours after injury, swelling and fluid pooling are at their peaks. That's the time to be aggressive about cryotherapy. Apply ice along with compression for 20 minutes at least four or five times a day (but, to avoid frostbite, don't ice more than once an hour). Many athletes have found that cryotherapy also helps with muscle recovery after especially hard workouts. While ice might speed the process, however, there's no clinical proof for it yet.
Read more in Men's Journal.

Good News About Sex: There's More to Come

The New England Journal of Medicine has some good news and some bad news. The somewhat less than shocking bad news is that sexual activity declines with age. The good news is that while it may decline, it doesn't disappear, especially for people in good health. The journal reports that people whose health was excellent or very good were nearly twice as likely to be sexually active as those in poor or fair health.
And now the facts: The prevalence of sexual activity declined with age (73% among respondents who were 57 to 64 years of age, 53% among respondents who were 65 to 74 years of age, and 26% among respondents who were 75 to 85 years of age); women were significantly less likely than men at all ages to report sexual activity. Among respondents who were sexually active, about half of both men and women reported at least one bothersome sexual problem. The most prevalent sexual problems among women were low desire (43%), difficulty with vaginal lubrication (39%), and inability to climax (34%). Among men, the most prevalent sexual problems were erectile difficulties (37%). Fourteen percent of all men reported using medication or supplements to improve sexual function. Men and women who rated their health as being poor were less likely to be sexually active and, among respondents who were sexually active, were more likely to report sexual problems.
Read more in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Biological Clocks Found All Over Our Bodies

It's ten o'clock. Do you know where your biological clocks are?  Geezer does. They're all over you're body. The Boston Globe reports that scientists have awakened to the possibility that humans have more than one biological clock. In fact, they now see evidence of biological clockworks in the heart, liver, lung, and retina cells. Why do we care? Because research suggests that daily patterns can affect both diseases and their treatments, and the symptoms of conditions ranging from asthma to cancer vary by time of day, as does the effectiveness of medical interventions -- though research into peripheral clocks is too preliminary to know whether they play an active role in disease. Recent studies also indicate that destroying circadian rhythms entirely can severely compromise health. Animals with no functioning clocks display many physiological problems, including infertility, high cholesterol, and conditions that resemble diabetes, obesity, and metabolic disorders.
Read more in the Boston Globe.

The Yoga DVD You Were Born Again For

Howard Schneider, writing in the Washington Post, seeks the perfect master of yoga DVDs, and ends up throwing his endorsement behind Fluid Power with Shiva Rea, largely because Shiva, in Schneider's opinion, "pretty hot." This could be true. Schneider's perfect journey leads him through five DVDs: CHRIS {dagger} oga, -yes, the name makes no more sense than the Bible readings that Chris lacked the good sense to edit out, Yoga To the Rescue, Kundalini Yoga to Detox and De-stress, Transform Yourself With Jivamukti Yoga, and, of course, the Fluid Power, with her hotness, Shiva. Geezer is on his own journey to the perfect master, and can only suggest that readers read more at  the Washington Post.