Looking for motivation to start a running habit? New research shows that people who trained gradually over six months for a marathon got an impressive boost to their cardiovascular health.
The 138 runners in the study received scans at the beginning and end of the training. "What we found ... is that we're able to reverse the processes of aging that occur in the [blood] vessels," says study author Dr. Anish Bhuva.
In fact it was the equivalent to a four-year reduction in vascular age.
The benefits likely have much less to do with the one-time race event than they do with the fact that the training program got people in the habit of regular exercise, says exercise researcher Dr. Tim Church.
Sarah Edrie says she was about 33 when she started to occasionally get a sudden, hot, prickly feeling in her neck and face, leaving her flushed and breathless. She told her doctors about the episodes, along with other new health concerns: irregular menstrual cycle, trouble sleeping, and night sweats. Their response: a shrug.
Later when Edrie went to a fertility clinic at age 39 because she was having trouble conceiving, she finally got answers. "They were like, 'Oh, those are hot flashes. It's because you're in perimenopause,' " she says.
Perimenopause is the transitional stage leading up to menopause, when you stop ovulating. It can last up to about 10 years for some women. And it can start as early as mid-30s.
It’s an herbal supplement that acts in the brain a bit like an opiate and is gaining popularity as a reliever of pain and stress. Kratom is legal in most states but is the subject of an ongoing debate.
Some people who have struggled with an opioid addiction and switched to kratom swear by the substance. But there have also been overdoses associated with the herb. The FDA warns consumers not to use kratom, and the DEA deems it a drug of concern.
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