Breathe Like A Yogi

          Gumby limbs and inner peace are fine, but new research also shows that yoga training helps you breathe better by expanding lung capacity.  Researchers at Thailand’s Khon Kaen University had 29 volunteers participate in 20-minute yoga sessions three times a week for 6 weeks.  Compared with a control group, the yoga crowd significantly increased total chest-wall expansion and exhalation volume, “allowing individuals to get more air to the base of the lung,” the researchers report.  The results is more oxygen with each breathe and less effort to breathe.

The Perfect Pace

          Among Lance Armstrong’s legacies is the notion that a high cadence is the most efficient way to spin.  But a new study in the International Journal of Sports Medicine suggests that when you’re on flat ground, you should favor a harder gear and lower cadence.  Researchers at Ithaca College had 12 well-trained cyclists perform three 5 mile time trials:  one at 101 revolutions per minute, one at 92 rpm, and proved to be the most economical—the cyclists’ heart rates were lower.  Faster pedaling required harder breathing with our much of an increase in power.  A harder gear means fewer dead spots in the stroke.

Start’em Young

          Keeping teenagers on the straight and narrow could be as simple as buying a family YMCA membership.  Being physically active makes kids smarter and more confident, according to a report in the journal Pediatrics.  A study of 11,957 teenagers found that those who played sports were less likely to participate in risky behaviors or had better grades, report the researchers at the University of Minnesota and University of North Carolina.  The most likely reasons: Teens who are active are exposed to team building and can see the benefits of hard work.  “Instead of having family TV time, build in time when the family is active together,” suggests study coauthor Penny Gordon-Larsen, Ph.D.