That familiar standby, the situp, is gone, or almost gone. Exercises that look like pilates or yoga routines are in. And the traditional bane of the new private, the long run, has been downgraded.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/31/us/31soldier.html?ref=nutrition

Wearing higher heels – although perhaps not stilettos – may improve your pelvic floor muscles and in doing so boost your sex life, a study suggests.

An Italian urologist and self-professed lover of the sexy shoe set out to prove that high heels were not as bad for women’s health as some suggest. A study of 66 women under 50 found that those who held their foot at a 15 degree angle to the ground – the equivalent of a two inch heel – had as good posture as those who wore flat shoes, and crucially showed less electrical activity in their pelvic muscles.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7225828.stm

A regular weight training regime may help treat rheumatoid arthritis, research suggests.

Study leader Dr Andrew Lemmey said muscle loss was a major contribution to the disability associated with the condition.

“It is logical that if you can restore muscle, that strength and consequently functional capacity will also be restored. And this is what we have found.”

He said the patients, who were mainly women in their 50s and had the disease for up to a decade, had responded well.

“In fact, the improvements in function were so significant that following training these patients with established RA were performing as well as or better than healthy individuals of the same age and sex.”

read on at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-10864601

Those residents surveyed who stopped driving to work and started walking to the light rail (sometimes taking a bus to a bus stop, then walking from there to the rail stop) walked on average 1.2 miles over their two commutes. And yes, it translated into a change in B.M.I: the average weight reduction found (after about six months of light-rail use) was 1.18 B.M.I. points.

cont http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/17/nyregion/17bigcity.html?_r=1&ref=nutrition

Scientists at the University of Sheffield asked two groups of patients with and without the disease to provide details of their drinking habits.

They found that patients who had drunk alcohol most frequently experienced less joint pain and swelling.

Experts say this should not be taken as a green light for drinking more.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-10776758

And the scientists think they have figured out why it works. It appears that the brain can sense carbohydrates in the mouth, even tasteless ones.

“You can get an advantage from tricking your brain,” said a discoverer of the effect, Matt Bridge, a senior lecturer in coaching and sports science at the University of Birmingham in England. “Your brain tells your body, ‘Carbohydrates are on the way.’ ” And with that message, muscles and nerves are prompted to work harder and longer.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/20/health/nutrition/20best.html?ref=nutrition

In the final part of the study, they found that the high-heel wearers’ tendons were much thicker and stiffer than in those who stuck to flat shoes.

This causes discomfort when walking on flat feet because the tendon cannot stretch sufficiently, Professor Narici said.

Yet he does not think women need to give up their high heels.

The advice we would give is not to wear heels or flat shoes all the time but to wear a variety of heel heights”

“Fashion is intended to be uncomfortable and none of the women in the study planned to give up their high heels,” he said.

“We want to give practical advice and I would recommend just doing a few stretching exercises to counteract some of these changes.”

Sammy Margo, physiotherapist and spokesperson for the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, said the study backed what they suspected.

“The advice we would give is not to wear heels or flat shoes all the time but to wear a variety of heel heights to get the calf muscles working through the greatest range of movement. . . .”

Continue reading the main story http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-10651020

Women were more likely to injure their feet and legs, while men’s injuries were more common in the trunk and hands; men had more sprains and strains, and women had more fractures.

Overexertion, muscle pulls and loss of balance accounted for about 14 percent of emergency room visits. More than 90 percent of the injuries occurred while using free weights rather than weight machines.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/22/health/22stat.html?ref=nutrition

Register  for The Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore (SCMS) 2010 at

www.marathonsingapore.com

The Real Madrid winger and Portugal captain said “it is with great joy and emotion that I inform I have recently become father to a baby boy. As agreed with the baby’s mother, who prefers to have her identity kept confidential, my son will be under my exclusive guardianship.”

No date for the birth was given.

The 25-year-old Ronaldo is not married, however since his signing by Madrid was announced he has often been photographed in the company of women.

“I request everyone to fully respect my right to privacy (and that of the child) at least on issues as personal as these are,” he said.

read more at http://g.sg.sports.yahoo.com/football/world-cup/news/cristiano-ronaldo-says-he-has-a-son–fbintl_ap-ronaldo-son.html