Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts with the label Health and Technology

Healthfully married

Being happily married doesn't just mean you and your spouse can go out to dinner without arguing about the most asinine issues you can think of, it also means being the recipients of better health. Brigham Young University researchers discovered that happily married couples, on average, experience lower blood pressure than singles with supportive social networks. The study involved the 24-hour evaluation of 204 married couples and 99 single adults, all of whom wore portable blood pressure monitors at all times for the duration of the study. Evaluation of the monitors' results revealed that the blood pressure of happily married adults lowered more during sleep than that of single people. And, since high blood pressure at night is a sign of increased risk of cardiovascular problems, this finding was particular important. The full results of the study were published in the March 2008 edition of the Annals of Behavioral Medicine.

Fit Gadgets: PCGamerBike

Before I begin, I think it's only fair for me to admit that I'm not a big gamer. I don't mind some of the racing video games, but for the most part, they could all disappear and I would be happy as a clam. My husband, on the other hand is the exact opposite -- he could sit and play a game for hours. Fortunately, he's in great health and good shape and still manages to come to the gym with me occasionally, so this habit doesn't really hurt him. But it drives me nuts to think about the people who surely miss workouts because they're so involved with their games -- has that ever happened to you, or a loved one? Today's Fit Gadget provides a solution -- the PCGamerBike requires the player to pedal in order to make his character move. The character could be a person, an airplane, a car, or anything else, and pedaling forward acts as the up arrow while pedaling backward acts as the down arrow.

Could your sports bra power your iPod?

Could the movement of your breasts within your sports bra create enough energy to power a small device, like an iPod? The short answer is yes, it certainly could. But there's more to it than just bouncing them around enough to create energy -- that energy then has to be harnessed. Slate recently had an article on what would need to occur in order to harness the power of our swaying breasts (I mean actual energy power -- not the power to stop men in their tracks or knock over a small child), and believe it or not, there's some serious technology already at work regarding this. However, each possibility has its problems. For example, one researcher has fabric made of nanowires that could easily be used to create a bra. However, it couldn't be washed -- ew! And then, there's the Lightning Pack technology that's already at work in backpacks for serious hikers and the military, and while this technology could be used on the bra strap, there's a generator and a pist...

What's the most important meal of the day for athletes?

Trivial Pursuit Question: What's the most important meal of the day for athletes? If you answered 'breakfast,' then off to your nutrition tutor, you just flunked. According to Dr. Jose Antonio , the most important 'meal' of the day is what you consume before, during, and after exercise! Dr. Antonio gave a seminar to a packed house at the National Strength and Conditioning Association Conference at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas this week. He showed proof that if you consume a combination of protein and carbohydrate during the pre-, during, and post-workout period, you'll put on lean body mass better and lose body fat. Breakfast doesn't do that my friend. Dr. Antonio calls this the science of nutrient timing. So when you re-take that quiz, make sure you answer Before, During, and After exercise! Then you get to go to the head of the class To learn more about Nutrient Timing click here .