More than 5,000 physicians, scientists, educators and students attended the American College of Sports Medicine annual meeting in Denver Wednesday through Saturday.
Some highlights from the latest research presented at the meeting and its Second World congress on Exercise is Medicine include:
• For the best sleep, work out in the morning. Aerobic exercise at 7 a.m. invoked significantly greater improvements in quality of sleep compared with exercise at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. in an Appalachian State University study.
• Participating in regular physical activity, such as modern dance, may help young adults achieve a healthier distribution of body fat. Compared with nondancers with the same overall amount of fat, college-age dancers had less abdominal fat in an Oregon State University study.
• As little as two minutes of exercise a day can reduce pain and tenderness in adults with neck and shoulder problems, says a team at the National Research Center for the Working Environment in Copenhagen.
• People recovering from knee injuries who pedaled backward on treadmills and elliptical machines tended to do better than those who pedaled forward, as measured by muscle strength and cardiovascular fitness.
• Spending time in a brightly lit room after a meal may help Type 2 diabetics regulate their blood sugar levels, according to a Louisiana State University study.
• At-home genetic tests for a child’s athletic aptitudes are raising ethical concerns — and a few eyebrows — among sports medicine professionals. Because genetic counselors aren’t on hand to deliver the results, there is a risk of misinterpretation and misuse, experts say.
For details on these and other studies, see the American College of Sports Medicine website, .
The Denver Post
