Women/Women's Health Issues Articles

Quick Training Tips: Do's and Don’ts Do substitute indoor cycling classes for an outdoor ride if time is tight. Generally speaking, 1 hour indoors in a cycling class is equivalent to 11⁄2 hours spent cycling outdoors. Do use interval training in the pool. At first you may be limited by arm fatigue, so an int...

Pretrained postmenopausal women gain more strength from multiple-set protocols than from single-set training, according to a study published in last November’s Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research (2004; 18 [4], 689–94). Researchers from the University of Erlangen, Germany, examined 71 subjects, who were randomly assigned to begin with 12 weeks of the single...

A study published in the January issue of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society (2005; 53 [1], 2) found that functional exercise was more effective than resistance exercise for improving daily task performance. The subjects—98 healthy women, all aged 70 or older—lived in a “community leisure center” in Utrecht, the Netherlands. Researchers random...

Although mothers today commonly opt to breastfeed their babies, many infants are still fed formula. Now, a study published online in Pediatric Research last December suggests that soy formulas may inhibit intestinal development in babies. During animal studies, researchers determined that many common soy formulas on the market today contain high concentrations of an isoflavone...

Breastfeeding a baby can be a wonderful experience. In addition to providing an infant with the essential nutrients in breast milk, nursing is a great way to create a strong emotional bond between mother and child. However, mothers who pump their milk and store it in chilled bottl...

Women who go through most of their lives obese are more likely to lose brain tissue, according to a study in the November 23 issue of Neurology (2004; 63, 1876–81). Swedish researchers considered the relationship between BMI (i.e., the subject’s body weight in kilograms divided by the square of her height in meters [kg/m2]) and brain atrophy in 290 women ...

Public Transportation Campaign Gets L.A. Moving If you live in a sprawling city like Los Angeles—and spend most of your time commuting—how do you lose weight, save money and discover areas of your city that you didn’t know existed? Enter Metro Fit, a fitness awareness campaign that encourages L.A. residents to incorporate more exercise into...

Women who eat large amounts of carbohydrates with a high glycemic load may be at much higher risk for developing colon cancer, according to a study that appeared in the February 2004 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. The culprit? Higher blood sugar levels and an elevated insulin response that can foster tumor growth. In fact, women who frequently ate foods like refine...

An unusual case of a healthy woman who had to check into emergency care as a result of vigorously performing yogic breathing exercises raises a cautionary note.