SportsGeezer

Does Running Outdoors Burn More Calories?

New York Times health answer man Anahad O'Connor seeks an answer the ancient conundrum: does running outdoors burn more calories than running indoors? And the answer is....:it's hard to say. O'Connor reports that running indoors (on a treadmill) is less likely to result in injury, and research suggests that running outdoors encourages more vigorous exercise, perhaps because other people may be watching. O'Connor's bottom line? Yes. Probably. Maybe. Some.
Read more from Anahad O'Connor in the New York Times.

Good-bye Nalgene, Hello Whatever

Now that the potential for a class action lawsuit has persuaded the Nalge Nunc International Corporation to phase out the manufacture of Nalgene sports bottles, Geezer thirsts for an answer to one question: What will replace the colorful flock of Nalgene bottles that gathers on the sidelines of soccer fields shortly before game time? Beer bottles, which are often consulted in the aftermath of Geezer's games, would render play even more laughable. Jot your favorite replacement in the comment function below. In the meantime, here's the lowdown on Nalgene's demise.

Yes, You Humans Can Smell Danger Too

Good news for human readers: Even you can learn to smell danger. The BBC reports on research at Northwestern University that exposed 12 volunteers to two "grassy smells." Initially, none of the volunteers could tell the difference between the two odors. Then some were given a clue, in the form of a mild electric shock, administered while they were smelling one of the odors. From that moment on, the shocked volunteers had no trouble identifying the odor that had been associated with pain. Geezer is still pondering how this information can be put to good use.
Read more about the sweet smell of danger at the BBC.

Why Spring Fever Is a Good Thing

Three health-related reasons to celebrate spring: Seasonal Affective Disorder becomes orderly; there are fewer heart attacks in spring; and the number of flu cases almost always declines. On the other hand, many of us begin to feel weird. We are restless, have even more trouble than we usually do paying attention, and find romance in strange places. The L.A. Times offers some reasons for the seasonal weirdness that we call spring fever. Let's start with chemicals. In winter, the paper reports, the body secretes high levels of melatonin, a hormone that governs sleep-wake cycles. Come spring, the increasing amount of daylight is registered by light-sensitive tissue in the eye, which signals the brain to stop secreting so much melatonin. As the hormone's levels drop off, greater wakefulness results. Wait, there's more on the chemical front: In spring, levels of another chemical, serotonin, rise. This mood-elevating neurotransmitter may be at the root of the giddiness, energy boost and enthusiasm that characterize spring fever. Read more about spring fever in the L.A. Times.

The Great Outdoors Gets Old

For many Americans, the great outdoors appears to have been replaced by the technology-rich indoors.
The Scientific American reports that Americans have been visiting national parks and other natural reserves less and less since 1987, and that the popularity of outdoor activities like camping and hunting is on the wane. Sciam cites a study who results were recently published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, showing that, with the exception of a slight increase in backpacking, outdoor pursuits peaked between 1981 and 1991 after 50 years of steady increase and have been declining at roughly 1 percent per year since for an overall drop of as much as 25 percent.
Read more in the Scientific American.

When Is It Too Cold to Exercise?

When is it too cold to exercise? The short answer, according to John W. Castellani, an exercise physiologist at the Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine, is "never." Castellani tells NYT health writer Gina Kolata that more people are injured exercising in the heat than exercising in the cold. Perhaps that because very few people exercise in the cold and a great many people exercise in heat. Whatev. Castellani, who is the lead author of a 2006 position paper from the American College of Sports Medicine on exercising in the cold, gets backup from Dr. Timothy Noakes, an exercise physiologist at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. The experts, Kolata tell us, are persuaded that the real problem with exercising in the cold is that people may be hobbled by myths that lead them to overdress or to stop moving, risky things to do.
Sounds possible, but what about frostbite and hypothermia? They happen, the experts say, but they don't happen to people who dress warm and stay dry. Read more about the mythical dangers of exercising in extreme cold in the New York Times.

Three Great Fitness Vacations

Geezer's travel budget does not permit week-long visits to luxury fitness spas, but it can accommodate a short walk to the fashionably minimalist office of Geezer's global headquarters. There, he can find and pass along the knowledge of travel writers like Andrea Sachs (also known as Turbo Girl), who publishes these quick and easy descriptions of three fitness vacations in the Washington Post.
Sachs recommends lodgings ( The Cooper Aerobics Center in Dallas, The Mountain Trek Fitness Retreat and Health Spa in British Columbia, and the Lodge at Woodloch in Hawley, Pa.), activities, and "indulgences" for three (high intensity, moderate intensity, low intensity) fitness vacations. Book today, call it a Christmas present and save yourself another trip to the mall. Read more about fitness vacations in the Washington Post.

Final (and Most Expensive) Gift Guide for 2007

If you want to know how many shopping days are left until Christmas, ask a ten-year-old, or a shopkeeper, or a ten-year-old shopkeeper. Geezer knows only that there are very few, and so he promises that this will be the last link to great ideas for holiday gifts. This final list is also, however, the longest and most pricey of this year's lists. Here you go: Outside Magazine's 08 Buyer's Guide to Winter. Knock yourself out, quickly.

Why Do We Feel Colder Walking into the Wind?

A curious reader asks the Boston Globe's Dr. Knowledge why we feel colder walking into the wind than walking with the wind. The main reason, opines Dr. Knowledge, is that we generally face the direction we walk, and we generally leave our faces uncovered. The good doctor advises us that if there is evaporation from the skin (from sweat or any other moisture), then wind plays a big role in carrying moisture-laden warm air away and presenting a fresh surface of dry air into which evaporation can take place, carrying away additional body heat and increasing the feeling of cold. The doctor suggests that there is also likely a psychological factor in some conditions, which is the feeling of pushing on forward in the face of a cold oncoming wind - this just reinforces the feeling of being cold and struggling with it.
Read more from Dr. Knowledge.

Why the Flu Prefers Winter

For decades, scientists have understood that winter is flu season, but neither they, nor anyone else, really knew why. Now they do. Geezer will cut straight to the chase: flu viruses spend much of their sadly limited lives floating in the air inside little respiratory droplets. When the air is humid, as it is in warm weather, those droplets absorb water, become heavier and fall to the ground, where the viruses can do little harm. But when the air dry, as it is in cold weather, the viruses linger in the air, waiting to land upon an unsuspecting host, such as yourself, or worse, Geezer.
The New York Times reports on the research that led to the revelation, which includes some yet unexplained evidence that infected animals released viruses longer in cold weather than in warm weather: nearly two days longer at 41 degrees than at a typical room temperature of 68 degrees. Not sure what's up with that.
Read more in the New York Times.