It’s hard to offer a precise definition of awe, so let’s call it the thrill we feel when we realize that we are in the presence of some stunningly magnificent place or being or happening. It’s less hard to list the health benefits that we derive from the experience. In […]
Eating Well
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Hot Chili Peppers = Longer Life
January 24, 2017People who eat hot chili peppers live longer than people who don’t. That’s the [...] -
Can Yogurt Keep You Calm?
November 23, 2016Can the probiotics in yogurt really help to relieve stress? Researchers at the University of [...] -
Feed Your Gut Bacteria Fiber Before It Feeds On You
November 21, 2016Researchers at the University of Michigan have discovered something unsettling about our gut [...]
- Spinach May Enhance Performance. Or Not.
- Unhappy At Work Can Mean Unhealthy At Home
- To Eat More Healthful Meals, Order Food Earlier
Fitness
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Too Hot For The Olympics?
August 17, 2016Enjoy the summer Olympics, because by 2085 the earth’s climate will be so hot that very few [...] -
Bike Riders Weigh Less Than Car Drivers
August 15, 2016In most American cities, commuting by bike is faster and cheaper than driving to work. Now comes [...] -
Menopause Steals Exercise High
August 1, 2016You know that wonderful high that often follows a good workout? Many post-menopausal women [...]
- One Hour Of Exercise Corrects One Day Of Sitting
- Light Weights As Good As Heavy Weights
- Next Up: Walking Meetings
Health
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Why the Coronavirus Likes Obese People
December 9, 2021It’s been known since the arrival of Covid-19 that the virus is particularly hard on people [...] -
Exercise Formula for Longer Life
September 15, 2021Gretchen Reynolds, much esteemed health and fitness writer for the New York Times, has an answer [...] -
Hot Chili Peppers = Longer Life
January 24, 2017People who eat hot chili peppers live longer than people who don’t. That’s the [...]
Other News
Can Exercise Enhance Vaccines?
Ok, the study is small, with just 70 people (and 80 mice), but the findings are promising: 90 minutes of exercise immediately after a vaccination for Covid or the flu can give people a small boost in antibody levels several weeks after vaccination. The New York Times reports on the […]
Another Heart Risk: Worry
Here’s something else to worry about: worry. A recent study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association found that men who are anxious have a higher risk of heart disease and stroke, and that risk increases as they grow older. The study, which analyzed data for 1,561 men […]
Why the Coronavirus Likes Obese People
It’s been known since the arrival of Covid-19 that the virus is particularly hard on people who are overweight. Now, thanks to research at Stanford Medical Center and elsewhere, we know why: the virus has the ability to infect fat cells, as well as immune cells within the fat. The […]
Exercise Formula for Longer Life
Gretchen Reynolds, much esteemed health and fitness writer for the New York Times, has an answer for anyone wondering how much daily exercise they need for a longer life. Reynolds reports on two new studies, one published this month in JAMA Network Open, and another published in August in Mayo […]
Exercise Improves Immunity Provided by Vaccines
SportsGeezer readers will probably not be surprised to learn that exercise, in general, boosts our response to vaccinations. Still, they may be interested in a New York Times report on two recent studies that suggest that intense training amplifies our vaccine response. In one study, conducted in Germany, researchers compared […]
Kindness Can Relieve Pandemic Anxiety
The COVID-19 pandemic appears to have unearthed a raft of things to worry about, and relatively few of them are directly related to the pandemic. In most venues, indoors or outdoors, anxiety is more abundant than any viral matter. What to do? Judson Brewer, a psychiatrist and the author of […]
Post Covid Exercise
Let’s say you’ve had Covid, and let’s say you feel pretty good, or at least good enough start exercising. Three words of advice: Don’t push it. Writing in the New York Times, Dr. Jordan Metzl, a sports medicine specialist at New York’s Hospital for Special Surgery, reports seeing several patients […]
What Exercise Does to Your Brain, Maybe
Gretchen Reynolds, estimable health writer for the New York Times, reports on some interesting research that suggests that exercise can make us a little sharper, especially if we are mice. The research, conducted largely at the University of California, San Francisco, infused blood from mice that exercised regularly into mice […]
For Heart Health, Aerobic Tops Strength Training
Wondering if you should for a run or head to the gym and lift those damn weights? Geezer says run. It’s better for your heart. We know that because Scandinavian researchers recently went to great effort to track the fitness and the healthful metabolites of 580 Finnish men who were […]
Marathon Training Reverses Blood Vessel Aging
Turns out that daily running can turn back the clock on our blood vessels. That’s the conclusion or researchers at University College in London, who studied the blood vessels of 139 first time marathon runners, aged 21 to 69, before and after training, which consisted of running 6 to 13 […]
Danger in Trendy Workouts
Trendy intense workouts come with risks.
Coffee First Thing? Maybe Not
Should we drink our first cup of coffee as soon as we get out of bed? The answer, according to caffeine experts consulted by the New York Times, is the same answer we often get from other experts in other areas: it depends– in this case on our genetics. Caffeine […]
Even Old Muscles Respond to Weightlifting
Are we really never to old to build muscle? That’s the thesis presented by Gretchen Reynolds in a recent article in The Washington Post. Reynolds bases her thesis on a study of resistance exercise that found that even people in their 80s and 90s showed significant gains after starting to lift weights […]
The Five Dangers of Pickleball
Aside from the risk that pickleball will steal your desire to do anything other than play more pickleball, there are a few physically painful outcomes that could influence your performance of the court. ScubbingIn, a publication of BaylorScott&White medical care, lists the pickleball injuries most often seen in their orthopedic […]
Are Oysters an Aphrodisiac?
You’ve heard the hype. You may have taken your hopes to the seafood counter and spent ten bucks on a half dozen oysters. You may have even been convinced that they worked, and maybe they did. Who knows? Actually, no one knows, but the scientific evidence supporting the assertion that […]
Lifting Weights Adds Muscle at Any Age
First, the bad news: the handy excuse that “it’s too late to build muscle” is no longer applicable for elders who would prefer to avoid weight lifting. According to an article in the Washington Post, a study of resistance exercise and the elderly found that even people in their 80s and 90s […]
Walking Is Good, Running Is Better
Ok, the study is a few years old, from 2014 actually, but there’s no reason the findings shouldn’t hold up. As reported in the New York Times, the findings of Duck-chul Lee, a professor of physical activity epidemiology at Iowa State University, show that regular runners — including those jogging […]
Sleep Time: Not Just the Hours
Sure, eight hours of sleep is a wonderful goal, but one that is not always attainable. The good news is that eight hours may not be that important, or at least not as important as going to bed and waking up at the same time most nights. “Regularity” is the […]
No, Smoking Pot Doesn’t Relieve Anxiety
Sorry, aging hipsters, smoking pot doesn’t necessarily make you less anxious. In fact, it often does the opposite. The Wall Street Journal reports on the paucity of credible research that supports the anxiety relief theory and on a couple of recent studies that suggest that pot makes us more anxious, […]
For Healthy Teeth, Read This
If your teeth could talk, they’d tell you what they would like you to eat, and not to eat. There’s the obvious stuff like sugary drinks and, OK, sugary anything, and there are some less obvious culprits, like alcoholic beverages, which can inhibit salivation, a natural tooth cleansing ingredient. The […]
Better Skin Through Resistance Training
Sure, it sounds questionable, but lifting weights is good for your skin. That’s the verdict of a recent study published in Scientific Reports and nicely explained by Gretchen Reynolds in the Washington Post. Actually, the study found that both aerobic exercise and weight training improved facial skin and tissue, but resistance […]