SportsGeezer

Supplements Do Nothing for Cardiovascular Risk

Women who take folic acid and vitamin D supplements to lower the risk of cardiovascular disease are doing something for nothing, according to a new study by Harvard Medical School doctors working at Brigham and Womens Hospital. The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association looked at more thatn 2700 women for more than seven years. Some of the women took folic acid and vitamin D; some didn't. When the smoke cleared, the researchers came to this
Conclusion After 7.3 years of treatment and follow-up, a combination pill of folic acid, vitamin B₆, and vitamin B₁₂ did not reduce acombined end point of total cardiovascular events among high-risk women, despite significant homocysteine lowering.

Read more in JAMA.

Testing the Body Fat Tests

Washington Post reporter Howard Schneider was never a big believer in body fat as a measure of fitness, or, for that matter, of body fat measure as a measure --of anything. In this piece, which includes a less-than-information-packed video, Schneider introduces innocent readers to a technology called bioelectrical impedance, which passes a small current through conductive foot pads or handheld electrodes (and, in some cases, both). The current can pass easily through water-rich muscle fiber, but it bogs down in fat. Based on a measure of impedance (how much of the current gets through from one electrode to the other), the machines use mathematical models to estimate the amount of fat that got in the way en route. Wait, there's more about other ways to measure body fat, but it's unclear why, because, as Schneider tells us, it doesn't work.
Read more in the Washington Post.

Breast Practices: Exercises to Keep Up Appearances

Now you know: Geezer is not above putting the word "breast" in a headline to build a more inclusive readership--inclusive of people who respond to well, you know, you responded. Editors at the L.A.Times are, it turns out, similarly welcoming of new readers. In this recent piece, the paper recommends "exercise moves to make your breasts stand out." Here are two:
Bench presses (in the regular, incline or decline position) and "flys." Chest flys are performed lying on the back, preferably on a bench, starting with arms straight up, a dumbbell in each hand. Arms are slowly lowered to the side, until they are on the same plane as the bench or floor.
Want your breasts to stand out even more? Read more in the L.A. Times.

Drinking Linked to Breast Cancer

Despite what Geezer has reported about the health benefits of wine, the Scientific American now delivers some bad news about booze. The magazine reports on a National Cancer Institute study whose results indicate that women who have one to two small drinks a day were 32 percent more likely to develop a hormone-sensitive breast cancer tumor. Wait, it gets worse: Three or more drinks a day raised the risk by 51 per cent.   Those conclusions come from an analysis of data from more than 184,000 women--the biggest study yet to link alcohol consumption to an increased risk of the most common type of breast cancer in postmenopausal women. Read more of this distressing report in the Scientific American.

Another Gender Difference: Sports Injuries

While Geezer is constructing his proof that male athletes injure themselves better than women athletes, readers can see what the more reliable Judy Foreman says about the sports injuries that women seem drawn to: tears in the ACL, plantar fasciitis, compartment syndrome, shin splints in runners, and kneecap pain.  Foreman, the premier fitness writer for the Boston Globe, tells us that women's knees are more vulnerable than men's because the angle between the hip and the knee - is greater in women than in men. While wide hips are good for childbearing, Foreman writes, they mean there is more stress on the knee in moves like landing from a jump and twisting. This torque can shred the ACL, a ligament that helps stabilize the knee,and is a major reason why female athletes have four times more ACL tears than men do. Read more about sports injuries that women just can't resist in the Boston Globe.

Happy Marriage Lowers Blood Pressure

If you have high blood pressure, you can now blame your spouse,  although blaming your spouse will only send your blood pressure higher. That, at least, is the implication of a recent study involving 204 married people and 99 single adults. As the Washington Post reports, study volunteers wore devices that recorded their blood pressure at random times over 24 hours. Married participants also filled out questionnaires about their marriage. The research conducted at Brigham Young University, found that the more marital satisfaction and adjustment spouses reported, the lower their average blood pressure was over the 24 hours and during the daytime. Spouses who scored low in marital satisfaction had higher average blood pressure than single people did.
Read more in the Washington Post.

How Sensual, Exactly, Is the Bollywood Workout?

A curious reader wants to know: How sensuous, exactly, is the Bollywood workout?  To  answer that, Geezer directs readers' attention to this helpful L.A. Times Q&A, with the queen, originator, and possibly only practitioner of the the Bollywood workout, Hemalayaa.  Much like Prince, Hemalyayaa wears exotic clothing, seems to be in constant motion, and has no last name. And like Prince's performances, as Hemalyayaa herself puts it, Bollywood is all about being over the top.
Read more in the L.A. Times.

Worrying About Your Weight Is Bad For Your Health

Could worrying about your weight be bad for your health? It looks that way. The New York Times reports that a recent study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found people who want to lose more weight are more likely to feel unhealthy. The Times reports that the study found that men who wanted to lose 1 percent, 10 percent and 20 percent of their body weight reported 0.05, 0.9 and 2.7 unhealthy days a month, respectively. Women with the same weight-loss desires reported 0.1, 1.6 and 4.3 total unhealthy days a month. The results held even after controlling for age and body mass index. Geezer sides with the wise man who said it's better to feel good than to look good.
Read more in the New York Times.

Stress Fractures: What Little You Can Do to Prevent Them

Looking for the good news in this L.A. Times story on stress fractures is a stressful exercise. The bad news is easily found: stress fractures--tiny breaks in bones, usually in feet or legs--are common injuries for runners and other athletes whose training involves repeated pounding. Being in great shape doesn't necessarily protect one from stress fractures: Seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong suffered through a stress fracture when he ran the New York Marathon for the first time after retiring from cycling competition. The Times' cites a study of 167 runners from the UCLA track team. Over five years, 37 of the runners suffered more than 60 stress fractures.
What can you do to prevent them? Weight training helps to strengthen bones. So does good nutrition (calcium), and running on softer surfaces is a good way to go.
Read more in the L.A. Times.

The Perfect Workout Song, Deconstructed and Recommended

How do you know when you've found the perfect song to work out to? The New York Times put the question to Dr. Costas Karageorghis, an associate professor of sport psychology at Brunel University in England, who has studied the effects of music on physical performance for 20 years. Mainly, says the doc, it's about tempo, and the perfect tempo is between 120 and 140 beats-per-minute. Karageorghis points out that is the going pace for most commercial dance music, and that it, not coincidentally,  corresponds to the average person’s heart rate during a routine workout.  What to listen to? Karageorghis recommends “Push It” by Salt-N-Pepa and “Drop It Like It’s Hot” by Snoop Dogg.  He is also high on  the dance remix of “Umbrella” by Rihanna, but for a high-intensity workout like a hard run, he says, go with Glenn Frey’s “The Heat Is On.”
Read more, including musical recommendations by health club managers, in the New York Times.