You finished your first major race, but now your runner's high has turned into a major low. Running experts say new runners should use their post-race recovery period to try out low-impact forms of exercise. Photograph via Shutterstock.
Three weeks ago I ran my first half marathon. Which was also my first-ever race. And I had a terrible cold.
Ordinarily, I’m the kind of person who sequesters herself firmly on the couch at the first sign of a sniffle, but in this case, after three months of getting up in the cold and dark to train and countless weekends of tourist-dodging while jogging around the Mall, it wasn’t an option. I didn’t quite reach my goal of finishing in under two hours (my final time was a maddening 2:00:30) but the experience of running 13.1 miles through the city with all the cheerleaders and crowds was unforgettable.
My runner’s high only lasted for so long, though. A week later, after the cold had enacted its revenge for several days, I was struggling to run farther than a mile and began to worry that all the fitness I’d built up had evaporated. I was also feeling sluggish and unmotivated without a training schedule. In my post-race low, I turned to local running experts for answers.
Thanks to its low mortality rate, exercise habits, and access to green space such as Great Falls National Park, Fairfax was ranked the healthiest county in Virginia in this year's rankings by Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute. Photograph courtesy of Flickr user dbaron.
For the second year in a row, Fairfax and Howard counties have been deemed the healthiest in the Washington metro region, according to a recent ranking conducted by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute.
Overall, the County Health Rankings report found that rates of premature deaths are at the lowest level in 20 years. Violent crime has decreased by almost 50 percent over the past 20 years.
Goûter is a local business that creates raw and vegan tonics, desserts, and salads in the basement of Elizabeth’s Gone Raw on L Street. The tonics are in high demand at local gyms and studios. Photographs by Melissa Romero.
One might call Steve Mekowski a mad scientist. He is, after all, the mastermind behind Goûter, the line of raw and vegan products you may have noticed popping up at your local gym or yoga and cycling studios.
Within the past year, local athletes from every realm—cyclists, yogis, runners—have gone gaga for Goûter, which means “snack” or “taste” in French. But while the brightly colored drinks may look like an average part of the juice craze that’s hit Washington, Mekowski and partner V Orban want you to know there’s a big difference in the products’ ingredients.
“Yoga studios and gyms typically only sell water or sugary drinks,” says Mekowski, a former culinary chef. “I wanted to create a drink that is lighter than juice and more medicinal.” Enter Goûter tonics, raw and vegan bottled drinks that Mekowski created after Orban developed a stomach ulcer and realized she’d have to take medication for the rest of her life.
March is National Kidney Month. A low-sodium diet, which can include this Bloody Mary recipe, keeps blood pressure low and can help prevent kidney disease.
Not only is March National Nutrition Month, but it also celebrates the health of two organs that don’t get much love: our kidneys. National Kidney Month aims to bring awareness to those two fist-size organs located on either side of your spine, just under your lower ribs. Why are they so important? Think of your kidneys as a strainer—they keep in some things that are good and get rid of things that are bad. They make urine, remove waste, and help produce red blood cells. Needless to say, if they fail, it means seriously bad news for your health.
And that’s just the start of it. Read on for more facts about your kidneys that you probably don’t know.
1. DC has a big kidney disease problem.
One in nine adult Americans has chronic kidney disease, while Washington leads the nation in the number of new cases of kidney disease each year. According to the National Kidney Foundation, kidney disease kills more people each year than breast cancer, prostate cancer, or leukemia. It’s also the ninth leading cause of death in the country.
A poll conducted by the National Sleep Foundation found that those who exercised—at any level—reported better sleep quality than non-exercisers. Results also found that exercising at night did not prevent people from falling asleep, contrary to popular belief. Photograph courtesy of Shutterstock.
Results from a poll conducted by the National Sleep Foundation in DC suggest that people who exercise sleep better, while non-exercisers are more likely to be at risk of insomnia and the serious medical condition sleep apnea.
“For the millions of people who want better sleep, exercise may help,” said David Cloud, the foundation’s CEO, in a statement.
The foundation, which polled 1,000 adults between the ages 23 and 60, found that a majority of self-described exercisers reported having had a good night’s sleep in the past two weeks. By contrast, 50 percent of non-exercises said they woke up during the night, and almost a quarter said they had trouble falling asleep nearly every night.
Reasons why you're not getting enough sleep—besides a snoring bedside partner—range from not being in a stable relationship to having a boring diet. Photograph courtesy of Shutterstock.
Yesterday marked the start of National Sleep Awareness Week, the National Sleep Foundation’s annual campaign to tout the benefits of sleep. We already know why sleep is oh-so-wonderful, but the problem is most of us aren’t getting enough of it. According to new research released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than a third of US adults report getting less than seven hours of sleep; in DC, 25 percent of adults said they didn’t get sufficient sleep for more than 14 days in a 30-day period. So what’s keeping us all up at night? It could be one (or more) of these five things.
1) Your diet is too fatty.
Research published last year found that a high-fat diet reduced sleep quality in the study’s participants. Granted, said participants were rats, but the findings were still notable. The rats on a high-fat diet did sleep more, but in fitful stages. They were also likely to be sleepier during the day, a common characteristic observed in obese humans.
A small study involving a group of experienced runners found that those who wore Vibram Five Fingers for 10 weeks were more likely to develop bone injuries in the foot than runners who wore traditional running shoes. Photograph courtesy of Flickr user Chris Happel.
A small study suggests that wearing minimalist running shoes, Vibram FiveFingers in particular, can lead to greater risk of bone injuries in the foot among runners.
The study, which involved 36 experienced runners, found that after a ten-week testing period, those wearing Vibram FiveFinger running shoes showed increases in bone marrow edema, or inflammation, compared with runners who wore traditional running shoes.
Researchers in Utah took MRIs of the runners’ feet at the start and end of the study. In the beginning, no runner showed signs of injury. Post-study, however, 10 of the 19 runners who wore Vibram FiveFingers showed signs of edema; a couple even had stress fractures.
Five media companies and Pinterest have teamed up with first lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move campaign to consolidate all of their MyPlate-worthy recipes into one place. Photograph courtesy of Pinterest.com/MyPlateRecipes.
We know how hard it can be to eat healthy meals every single day. In an effort to make the job easier for all of us, the White House announced the partnership of major media companies and the First Lady’s Let’s Move campaign to compile all of their nutritious recipes that meet the USDA’s MyPlate guidelines.
“As a mom, I know how challenging it can be to think of new meal ideas that your kids will like and that will be good for them,” Michelle Obama said in a statement. “This partnership takes the guesswork out of finding healthier recipes and gives parents the information and the tools they need to make healthy choices for their families every day.”
Media companies involved in the partnership include Conde Nast, Hearst Magazines, Merdith, Food Network, and Time. The recipes will be featured on the companies’ cooking websites, which include Epicurious, Real Simple, and Food Network, to name a few.
A new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that the Mediterranean diet can cut one's risk of heart disease by 30 percent. The diet is rich in olive oil, nuts, and vegetables. Photograph courtesy of Shutterstock.
Results from a new study published today in the New England Journal of Medicine suggest that the Mediterranean diet works wonders for the heart.
The study, which involved 7,447 men and women already at high risk for heart disease, found that those who maintained the Mediterranean diet cut their risk of heart issues by 30 percent. The findings were so significant that researchers cut the study short after almost five years of following the participants.
The Mediterranean diet is characterized by a high intake of olive oil, fruit, nuts, vegetables, and cereal. It also encourages a decent intake of fish and meat, and a low intake of dairy products, processed meats, and dessert. Red wine consumption is also moderate and paired with meals.
The Choosing Wisely campaign recently released another batch of 90 medical tests and procedures deemed unnecessary or questionable by physicians. Photograph courtesy of Shutterstock.
Last April, the Choosing Wisely campaign released 45 medical tests and procedures that physicians deemed unnecessary and potentially harmful. As promised, yesterday the campaign released another batch of procedures that are commonly ordered but thought to be a waste of time and money, bringing the number of questionable tests up to 130.
Notable recommendations included the following:
1) Don’t perform routine annual Pap tests for women 30 to 65 years old.
Last year the American Academy of Family Physicians discouraged doctors from performing Pap smears on women younger than 21. This year, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists went on to say that in average-risk women, routine annual Pap smears do not offer an advantage.
