1 . For people suffering from depression, there’s an all-natural treatment they should use — getting more exercise. It could help fight depression, even if people have a genetic risk, new research shows.

For the study, researchers collected information from nearly 8,000 people and found those with related genes were more likely to have depression over the next two years after examining them. But that was less likely for people who were more active at the study’s start, even if they had a family history of depression. Higher levels of physical activity helped protect even those with the highest genetic risk of depression.

Both high-intensity (高强度) exercise and low-intensity activities were associated with a reduced risk of depression. Adding four hours of exercise a week could lower the risk of a new episode (一段经历) of depression by 17%, according to the study. “Our findings strongly suggest that, when it comes to depression, being physically active has the potential to remove the added risk of future episodes in individuals who are genetically risky,” said lead author Karmel Choi. “On average, about 35 additional minutes of physical activity each day may help people to reduce their risk and protect against future depression episodes.”

Depression is a common mental illness globally, with more than 264 million people affected. “Depression is so ubiquitous, and that underlines the need for effective approaches that can impact as many people as possible,” Choi said. And mental health and primary care providers can use the findings to advise patients that there’s something meaningful they can do to lower their risk of depression.

5 . The human body is designed to move. But modern lifestyles and office jobs rarely give us the chance to move around. As we know, we sit while we’re eating, we sit in the car and we sit while we're watching TV. And many of us sit for many hours at work.

New research shows that sitting less than three hours a day might extend your life by two years. Peter Katzmarzyk, a scientist at the University of Louisiana in the southern United States, says that sitting is ubiquitous in our lives, meaning it is something we do all the time, everywhere.

However, Mr.Katzmarzyk says even that does not mean you can sit for the rest of your waking hours. He also says you may exercise often. “We can’t throw away physical activity. It’s extremely important. We have 60 years of research showing us that.”

Mr.Katzmarzyk and his colleagues are part of a new generation of researchers studying how sitting all day affects length of life. “Studies that have assessed the relationship between sitting and mortality (死亡率)or television viewing and mortality are very rare. There have only been a few of them, actually five or six now，in the last four or five years.” They found that cutting television time to less than two hours a day could add one-point four years to life.

Luckily, change is already coming to some offices, especially in the design of desks. A “standing desk” lets people stand while they are working. Another new design is called the “treadmill desk”. A treadmill is an exercise machine that lets you walk in one place. Even some U.S. schools are beginning to experiment with desks that are part bicycle to keep children moving, That’s one of the strategies that many companies are using now.

Mr. Katzmarzyk also says studying this problem has inspired his team to make a few changes in their own lives.

7 . I come from a family that loves sports. My father coaches Little League baseball. My mother swims nearly every weekend. My brother is on his high-school basketball team, and I am the best hitter on my middle-school volleyball team. All of us have benefited(受益）from sports. One of the most common ways for kids to take part in sports is to join a team. Joining a sports team should be a school requirement.

Playing sports is good for both the body and mind. Everyone knows that exercise helps people stay fit. For example, swimming helps your heart work better and it also helps build muscle strength(肌肉力量）. In addition, school athletes(运动员） often have a healthy diet. I eat a lot of fruit and vegetables and avoid fatty foods because I must stay in great condition.

Being on a team allows students to enjoy a healthier social life. They often make more friends and can be some of the most popular kids in school. Since joining the basketball team, my brother has made friends with a lot of his tea mates and has showed more interest in spending time with them.

Kids who take part in school teams sometimes earn college scholarships(奖学金）. My brother's friend, Justin, played football in high school. His family did not have money to send him to college. However, a college invited him to play on its team. The college is paying for him to go to school. Joining a team turned out to be one of the best decisions he had ever made. Now he studies at a great college and plays on its football team Not every school athlete gets a college scholarship, but joining a school team-makes it possible.

Although some people may not like the idea of forcing students to join a school team, its many benefits such as keeping kids heal thy, new friendships, and possible scholarships cannot be denied(否认）.

9 . Why play sports? You might say “to get exercise” and you would be right. To have fun? That's true, too. But there's more.     1     According to the Women's Sports Foundation, girls who play sports get a lot more than just fit.

Girls who play sports do better in school. You might think that athletics will take up all your study time.     2     Exercise improves learning, memory, and concentration, which can give active girls an advantage in the classroom.

Girls who play sports learn teamwork and goal-setting skills.     3     When working with coaches, trainers , and teammates to win games and achieve goals, you're learning how to be successful. Those skills will serve you well at work and in family life.

Sports are good for a girl's health. In addition to being fit and keeping a healthy weight, girls who play sports are also less likely to smoke. And later in life, girls who exercise are less likely to get breast cancer or osteoporosis(骨质疏松症).

Playing sports improves self-confidence.     4     Why? It builds confidence when you know you can practice, improve, and achieve your goals. Sports are also a feel-good activity because they help girls get in shape, keep a healthy weight, and make new friends.

    5     Playing sports can reduce stress and help you feel a little happier. How? The brain chemicals leased during exercise improve a person's mood. Friends are another mood-lifter. And being in a team creates tight bonds between friends. It's good to know your teammates will support you-both on and off the field!

10 . Tired of your quiet day-to-day life? How about leaving your computer games behind and taking up an extreme sport?

You can ride a bicycle, right? In that case you’re halfway to becoming a mountain biker. All you have to do is take your bike off the road and try some hilly areas. Mountain biking was developed in California in the 1970s and became an Olympic sport in 1996.

Not challenging enough? Skydivers jump from planes at a height of 1,000 to 4,000 meters. You have to be fit but there’s no age limit with this sport. For example, Dilys Price from Cardiff went on her first jump aged 54. The minute she came down, she wanted to go up again. She said: “It was so attractive”.

Some adventures have invented base jumping, in which people jump from tall structures, such as buildings or bridges, with a parachute. Many of their jumps aren’t legal, especially in the cities.Dan Witchalls has jumped off The Shard —London’s 310 meter-high building four times.He says, “Base jumping is scarier than jumping out of a plane. In a plane there is no sense of height, but when you are standing on the edge of the building you can see people and cars, the experience makes it very real.”

It seems there’s no shortage of imagination when it comes to risking life to look cool and get the heart beating wildly. Surfing, diving, rock climbing ...And how about extreme ironing? That is, pressing your clothes on top of a mountain! Extreme ironing is said to have been created in the 1990s in England by a man who saw a large amount of wrinkled clothes and felt bored when doing the cloth ironing. That man was Phil Shaw. For him, the excitement of this sport comes from looking at the viewers’ faces. Shaw says, “Sometimes they look confused; sometimes they laugh. It’s fun to see how people react to it.”