A study of university rugby players has shown that they are more likely to suffer sleep disordered breathing; than an average middle-aged man. The study also showed that the athletes; who experience this problem are also more likely to have low levels of oxygen in their blood; and higher pulse rates during the night; suggesting…
The prevalence of concussions in sports is well known. So, too, is the challenge clinicians and others face when they have to decide when an athlete can return to the game after a head injury. While most athletes recover from a sports-related concussion in about seven to 10 days, some need more time. This predicament…
While walking a dog provides older Americans with a valuable outlet for regular, physical activity; a Penn Medicine study has shown that fractures related to these walks have more than doubled between 2004 and 2017 in patients 65 and older. In this population; 78 percent of the fractures occurred in women; with hip and upper…
As clinicians and researchers in traumatic brain injury and neurodegeneration, we are concerned by the tone of reporting on chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) that has developed over the past decade, highlighted in an article in The New York Times. Misleading reporting can have unintended, negative consequences and we call for balance from the medical and scientific…
Should high testosterone levels disqualify elite female athletes from competing among women? That will be the question at hand in a Swiss court this month when South African sprinter Caster Semenya faces off against the world governing body for track and field over controversial new rules requiring women with high levels to medically lower them in…
Firstly, it’s well-known that exercise improves health; but understanding how it makes you healthier on a molecular level is the question researchers at Joslin Diabetes Center are answering. After performing experiments in both humans and mice, the researchers found that exercise training causes dramatic changes to fat. Additionally, they discovered that this “trained” fat releases…
A group of researchers from the Department of Physical Education and Sport at the University of Seville; have designed the educational programme Safe Fall- Safe Schools; a pioneering initiative that aims to reduce the risk and seriousness of the injuries; caused by backwards falls in children by means of the teaching of safe and protective…
Bringing the science of high intensity interval training (HIIT) into everyday life could be the key to helping unfit; overweight people get more of the exercise they need to improve their health; according to an international research team. So, from washing the car to climbing stairs or carrying groceries; each of these activities is an…
Bacteria, often synonymous with infection and disease, may have an unfair reputation. Research indicates there are as many; if not more; bacterial cells in our bodies as human cells; meaning they play an important role in our physiology. In fact; a growing body of evidence shows that greater gut microbiota diversity (the number of different…
Exercise positively impacts mood and symptoms of depression; however, the mechanisms underlying these effects are not fully understood. Recent evidence highlights a potential role for skeletal muscle-derived transcription factors to influence Trp metabolism, along the kynurenine pathway; which has important implications in depression. This has important consequences for older adults; whose age-related muscle deterioration may…
Adolescent athletes who sustained concussions while playing a sport recovered more quickly when they underwent a supervised; aerobic exercise regimen, a study published in JAMA Pediatrics has found. The study, by University at Buffalo researchers and colleagues; is the first randomized clinical trial of a treatment in the acute phase after a sport-related concussion. The goal was…
Parents who home-school their children may think putting them into organized sports and physical activities keeps them fit; but Rice University researchers say young people need more. Faculty at the Rice Department of Kinesiology studied data gathered from 100 home-schooled children age 10-17 to back up their assumption that such activities are sufficient to keep…