HLife | Healthy Living Redefined

Exercise: Poor air quality apparently affects the running times of women marathoners, according to a study. Higher levels of particles in the air were associated with slower running times for women, while men were not significantly affected. The differences, according to researcher Linsey Marr of Virginia Tech, may be due to the smaller size of women’s tracheas, which makes it easier for certain particles to deposit there and possibly cause irritation. “Although pollution levels in these marathons rarely exceeded national standards for air quality, performance was still affected,” Marr said. Her studies were conducted where major USA marathons are located, such as New York, Boston, and Los Angeles, where pollution tends to be highest. Although the regular person might not be significantly impacted by low-yet-still-acceptable air quality, marathoners typically inhale and exhale about the same amount of air as a sedentary person would over the course of two full days. This means they are exposed to much greater amounts of pollutants than under typical breathing conditions. Interestingly, the performances of female marathoners appeared to only be affected by particulate matter, and not other pollutants like carbon monoxide, ozone, nitrogen dioxide or sulfur dioxide. The research was published in the journal Medicine and Science in Sports & Exercise. Read More…

Image by Jesse Wight

Pain: Meditation can help with pain management, according to a study published in the current issue of The Journal of Pain. The idea is not new, but the researchers discovered that, contrary to previous assumptions, just a single hour of training spread out over a three-day period (20 mins a day) can produce the same analgesic effect than a long time commitment.  More on pain control: Another study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that emotions – or mood – can alter how we react to pain. The researcher Mathieu Roy noted: “Our findings show that non-pharmaceutical interventions – mood enhancers such as photography or music – could be used in healthcare to help alleviate pain.”  Crank up that Mozart.

Relationships: Fight – but choose your words.  Couples who bring thoughtful words to a fight release lower amounts of stress-related proteins, according to a study published in Health Psychology. Researchers found that rational communication between partners – using words like ‘think’, ‘because’, ‘reason’, and ‘why’ – can ease the impact of marital conflict on the immune system. These words suggest people are either making sense of the conflict or at least thinking about it in a deep way. Interesting side note: women, typically better at communication, were more likely to use cognitive words than husbands. Come on, guys – use your words! Read More…