FitSugar

High Blood Pressure? Take a Short Walk

FitSugar — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 04:23:55 PST

Researchers at the University of Indiana have found that short bursts of exercise, rather than long durations, will help lower blood pressure. While the study found that both forms of exercise (short and long) lowered blood pressure by the same amount, the effect lasted for 11 hours with 10-minute walks compared to seven hours for 40 minutes of walking.

What do the numbers mean? Depending on your age and heart history, a healthy blood pressure is anywhere from 120/80-140/80. Systolic (high number) measures when the heart contracts and pumps blood out. Diastolic (low number) measures between the beats, as your heart fills with blood again.

Fit's Tip: It is much easier to find the time for 10 minute walks -- So if you're looking to lower your blood pressure then go for a walk during your lunch hour. If you're doing a lot of traveling, take a short walk through the terminal during your layovers.

Hangover Cures That Work (and Ones That Don't)

Fitness Magazine — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 04:17:53 PST

We are excited to share one of our fave stories from Fitness Magazine here on FitSugar!

You know you shouldn't, but sometimes a girl just can't help herself. You plan to meet up with friends for a drink after work, and one drink turns into many more, which then turns into a rough next morning. We hope you don't have a hangover reading this, because we bring you some not-so-good news. "There are a lot of myths about hangover cures," says Ruth C. Engs, RN, EdD, a professor at Indiana University who has done extensive research on the effects of drinking. "Essentially there is no cure other than consuming water and liquids like juice (i.e., not spiked) in the morning." The reason? Hangover symptoms are a product of dehydration, hypoglycemia, and the poisonous side effects from toxins in our drinks (sounds great, right?). Water will not only help hydrate your muscles and organs, but will also aid in flushing out the toxins. Juices such as orange juice accomplish both while replenishing your body with missing sugars.

That said, if you swear by a bacon, egg, and cheese bagel or a five-mile run after a night out on the town, you're not alone. We got the scoop on which remedies seem to prove real, and which ones are just part of the rumor mill.

Find out which hangover cures work after the break!

Study: Majority of Girls Face Sexually Charged Bullying

Lizzie Fuhr — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 11:40:55 PST

Kids dubbing a girl a "slut" is overheard far too often across the nation. And it's not just high school or college girls we're talking about here. Middle school tween bullies commonly label girls they don't like or are mad at as "sluts." The American Association of University Women released a study this month that found 56 percent of the middle and high school girls surveyed were sexually harassed in the past school year. And most of the time, these girls are not even sexually active.

One psychologist, Maureen McHugh of Indiana University, explains that as girls experiment with more grown-up fashion and makeup choices, their peer cans brutally police them: "There's monitoring of people wearing too much makeup or dressing too provocatively, so it's a weird fine line." And the sexual harassment doesn't end with the "slut-bashing." According to a 2010 study, students who are gay are bullied three times as much as heterosexual kids.

With all of the "slut walks" and grassroots movements taking place across the country to educate people on alternative lifestyles, and an attempt to reclaim the word "slut" itself, this research seems to suggest kids aren't getting the sex-positive message. I'm curious; did you ever experience these types of taunts?

Doctor Who Recap: The Wedding of River Song

Kelly Schwarze — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 16:53:42 PDT

We've been marching ominously toward the Doctor's fate at Lake Silencio in the second half of season six. The finale "The Wedding of River Song" does answer a lot of our questions, but in Doctor Who style, new threads and mysteries are added to the timey-wimey jumble.

The episode begins in an earth where everything is askew; time stopped ticking and remains set on April 22, 2011 at 5:02 p.m., the Doctor's death date. All of time and history are happening at once because the fixed point of the Doctor's death was rewritten. River Song, the impossible astronaut of the Utah lake refuses to kill the Doctor. The Doctor, with the aid of Amy, Rory (again as a soldier), and River herself must kill the Doctor to save the universe from the Silence.

Check out my most memorable moments from the finale.

What's Your Dunbar Number?

Mandy Harris — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 13:28:58 PDT

Pop quiz: how many Facebook friends do you have right this second? OK, now question two: how many of them are actually friends or family members you're close to and interact with regularly? According to research performed in the '90s by anthropologist Robin Dunbar, that number should be somewhere around 150.

Dunbar has studied groups from ancient hunter-gatherers to GORE-TEX wet-suit factories, and in every situation, the number of meaningful relationships people are able to maintain maxes out between 100 and 200. And new research from Indiana University focused on Twitter followers reaches the same conclusion. The reason for this, Dunbar says, is that at 150 relationships, our brains stop being able to keep track, and we reach a saturation point.

The Dunbar Number isn't an exact science; the number definitely varies from group to group, and even from person to person. So, take a good look at your social network and tell me: what's your Dunbar Number?

Happy People Tweet Together . . . Naturally

Kristen Hawley — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 15:30:15 PDT

Birds of a feather flock together, indeed! A new study from the University of Indiana finds that happy people tend to tweet together; the same holds true for unhappy people, too. Researchers tracked 102,000 users over a six-month period, analyzing the emotional context of their tweets by the amount of positive and negative words they contained.

The result: happier people tend to associate themselves with other happy people; the same held true for people deemed by researchers to be less happy. According to the lead researcher, "It turns out that Twitter users are preferentially linked to those with whom they share a similar level of general happiness."

But is Twitter really dividing us, or is this just the virtual equivalent of those who are happy preferring to interact with other happy people rather than unhappy people? I'm more than happy to console a friend who is stressed, angry, or otherwise upset, but I don't know that I would take to Twitter to do so. Though if I was feeling down in the dumps myself and a friend or contact seemed to be feeling similarly, I'd probably join in their sorrow. I'm also curious if the happy people make the sad people more sad - à la Facebook, or if reading happy tweets can lift the mood of a sad person reading their feed.

Foursquare Uses Check-In Data to Determine Rudest Cities

Kristen Hawley — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 12:47:50 PST

Foursquare has had over 400 million check-ins over the last year, and taking a closer look at the data behind them can lead to some interesting insight. For example, Foursquare's engineers used check-in data to determine the rudest cities, based on the number of curse words used in check-ins.

The mechanics behind the data are a bit complicated, but the end results are interesting. Topping the list: Manchester, UK, followed closely by El Paso, TX.

I'm not convinced that this data dictates the rudest cities; it just shows which cities swear the most. But I find the ability to pull this sort of user-supplied information from check-in data fascinating; I'd like to see Foursquare data similar to the regional Twitter accent data. Other cities high on the list include Pittsburgh, Bloomington, IN (home of Indiana University), and both Tempe and Scottsdale, AZ.

5 Reasons to Love Omega-3 Fatty Acids

FitSugar — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 13:00:00 PDT

The age of nonfat foods seems to be drawing to a close as the benefits of certain fats, particularly omega-3 fatty acids, make the headlines almost daily. Found mostly in cold-water fish like salmon (here's my new favorite wild salmon recipe), omega-3s do some wonderful things for your body. Here are five of them.

Keeps the aches and pains at bay: Recent studies at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center found that taking a fish-oil supplement for 20 to 30 days relieved chronic back and neck pain. This may be due to omega-3's ability to fight inflammation.
Fights obesity with fat: Omega-3s improve the body's response to insulin by stimulating the secretion of leptin. Leptin is an hormone that helps regulate not only food intake, but body weight and metabolism as well.
Improves your mood: This form of fat has been shown to stabilize and lessen mood swings as well as decrease depression by helping the brain create the feel-good brain chemical serotonin.

There's a couple more reasons so