You’ve spent your training runs loping along tree-lined trails or quiet back roads with your herd. But one day, you find yourself on a city street inside an immense crowd of unfamiliar beasts. Music blares, crowds roar, and you have to fight your way through a veritable obstacle course to reach your destination. Add the pressure to perform and months (if not years) of preparation and expectation, and you have the perfect description of a big-city race—and a potential recipe for a major mental meltdown. Read the full article for Runner’s World.
psychology
How 8 Minutes a Day May Change Your Life
picture by Moyan Brenn on Flickr
As an overwhelmed first-year law student nearly 30 years ago, Victor Davich saw his classmates turn to medications to battle stress and stay focused. Davich, though, chose a different route. Read the full article on NowU.
Inspirational Team Hoyt Proves Anything Is Possible
In the past four decades, Dick Hoyt and his son, Rick, who has cerebral palsy, have together completed six Ironman triathlons, more than 70 marathons and a 45-day run and bike across the U.S. without a single day of rest. Dick, 74, a motivational speaker and Holland, Mass. resident, is usually quick with a tale and a joke in his thick Boston brogue. But ask the former Air National Guard lieutenant colonel the most difficult thing he’s ever done, and he’s briefly rendered speechless. Read the full story on NowU.com (or download a pdf).
How to Blast Past Your Biggest Fitness Challenges
On Sunday, 25-year-old Tatyana McFadden will line up with 45,000 other runners in the starting corral of the Bank of America Chicago Marathon. But this champion marathoner (she’s won Chicago four times and holds the women’s wheelchair course record, in addition to being a Paralympics sprinter) has had to work harder than most of her fellow competitors to get where she is today. Read the full story on Shape.com.
Exercise High
Learn how to burn 12 percent more calories while walking, whether gardening counts as exercise, what lactic acid has to do with runner’s high, and how grunting might help your workout, all in this month’s Fitness Scoop! Read the full page in Women’s Health (pdf).
The Dark Side of Antidepressants
What if aspirin sometimes made your head throb more, cough syrup started you hacking, or antacids churned up your heartburn? At least one medicine can have nearly the opposite of their intended effect—SSRIs, a common type of antidepressants. In certain cases, these drugs actually increase the chances you’ll want to hurt yourself. Read the full article on Shape.com.
Is Your Diet a Cult?
You started out with good intentions—you just wanted to lose weight, feel better, or eat cleaner. But now you’re preaching the gospel of Paleo, spending weekends searching for low-fat diet studies to debunk, and hurling Twitter insults at former friends who dare to eat wheat. Read the full article on Shape.com.
Are You Suffering from Secondhand Stress?
Picture this: You’re quietly enjoying your Americano and catching up on email when your cubemate starts melting down over her bad performance review. Or you’re about to stream last week’s episode of Scandal when your friend texts you about the major drama with her off-again guy. Even though nothing’s actually changed in your life, you may feel your blood pressure surge and your heart beat faster, just as if you were the one coping with tension and pressure. Yep, stress can spread just like a virus—and like the flu, it can make you sick, experts say. Read the full article on Shape.com.
30 Ways To Save Your Heart
We’ve collected a whole slew of simple, effective strategies for safeguarding your heart health. You don’t have to adopt all of these lifesavers, but give each one a try to see if you can stick with it for the long haul. Who knows? You just might dodge a bullet. Read the full article in Men’s Health.3 Ways to Outsmart Father Time—Starting Now!
Old brains do learn new tricks. Trying different things, working out, and making social connections can alter neural structures even when you’re older, improving your memory and health as a result, according to research presented at the American Association for the Advancement of Science conference in Chicago this past weekend. But don’t wait until you reach your golden years. Read the full article in Men’s Health.