2 . When it comes to lowering blood pressure, studies have typically shown that aerobic (有氧的) exercises are best. Recent research suggests another type of physical activity is worth including as an effective tool to prevent and treat high blood pressure.

Exercises that engage muscles without movement, such as wall squats and planks, may be best for lowering blood pressure, according to a large study published in July, 2023 in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

This type of training is known as isometric exercise, according to the Mayo Clinic. Isometric muscle action happens when muscles contract but do not visibly change length, and the joints involved don’t move, facilitating stability of the body. Isometric exercises can be done with weights or without, just relying on the body’s own weight.

“These findings provide a comprehensive data-driven framework to support the development of new exercise guideline recommendations for the prevention and treatment of high blood pressure,” said study coauthor Dr. Jamie O’Driscoll in a news release.

The researchers looked into randomized controlled trials that had reported the effects of exercise interventions, lasting two or more weeks, on blood pressure between 1990 and February 2023. From a review of 270 trials with 15,827 participants, the researchers found that among HIIT (high intensity interval training), isometric exercise, aerobic exercise, dynamic resistance training and a combination of the latter two, isometric exercise led to the greatest reductions in blood pressure.

It’s also important to note that there are other lifestyle changes as well as exercise that can benefit your blood pressure. These include keeping to a healthy weight, eating a balanced diet, cutting down on salt, not drinking too much alcohol and ensuring that you continue to take any prescribed medication.

More research is needed to determine exactly why isometric exercises might be better for lowering blood pressure than other types of training, the authors said.

4 . You probably consider calorie (卡路里) burning with training. You can get great calorie burning effects with the following exercises.

Running is one of the best calorie burners out there. An average person can burn anywhere from 500 to 1,000 calories in one hour of running. Speed and pace are all factors that can affect calorie burning. But running uses every muscle group in the body, allowing you to burn more calories.

If you want intensity, HIIT is right for you. This physical exercise involves working hard in intervals, then resting. Because your heart rate will stay at a high level, you’ll burn more calories in less time. On average, a person will burn 400 to 600 calories in 30 minutes.

This childhood activity can actually do wonders for your health. Jumping rope is great for strengthening the lower and upper body while training your balance and coordination (协调能力), because your mind has to work while you jump. Jumping rope can burn 600 to 1,000 calories in an hour.

Swimming is a low-intensity form of exercise that also uses muscle groups of your body. In just 30 minutes of swimming, an average person can burn 200 to 300 calories. Swimming also helps to shape body, control blood pressure, and increase strength—all great reasons for you to jump into the water.

7 . Influenced by factors like school funding, sports facilities, teacher resources and safetyconcems, traditional physical education was limited to static (静态的) scenes and closed gymsand playgrounds, which lacked interaction and feedback functions. PE curiculum was also restricted to basic sports like ball games, track and field and gymnastics. However, the emergence and application of new technologies like virtual reality (VR), 3D technology, greatly expand and innovate sports scenes, providing possibilities for the construction of a flexible “on-site, on- campus, online” integrated new sports world.

IT can build online virtual learning environments for students, creating teaching scenes hard to achieve in physical world. Many schools have already partnered with technology companies to create different teaching scenes using digital sports products. The University of South Florida has cooperated with the VR sports training company Sense Arena, allowing students to practice tennis on its globally pioneering VR tennis training platform. Students use the Meta Quest 2 headset and VR touching racket (球拍) which imitates the weight and feel of a real tennis racket. The platform features 35 training modes imitating various scenes in real-life tennis matches, including crowd noise, dazzling sunlight, shadows and wind. Athletes can engage in various forms of training, such as skill practice, technical analysis and match imitation. Such virtual sports teaching space further enhances the experience of PE learning.

Technology-based physical education not only serves ordinary students’ physical health but also addresses the needs of special groups in sports, especially students who cannot participate in regular PE classes due to physical, psychological or social adaptation issues. Many schools offer specialized sports programs to disabled students, like the “Pathways to Inclusion” program launched by the University of Queensland, which tailors various sports activities to different disabilities, such as blind football and wheelchair hockey. This is made possible with the support of sports technology, as different symptoms require the use of different sports equipment.

Through scientific, healthy and joyful educational concepts, technology-empowered PE classes convey the values of creating and enjoying a personalized experience, developing a sports education where everyone participates and benefits.

9 . Scientists are now digging into precisely why exercise holds so many benefits for our mental health and memory. The answer, studies say, lies in our brain chemistry.

Each time you work up a sweat, your body releases feel-good happy hormones (荷尔蒙), including endorphins, dopamine and endocannabinoids, the latter being responsible for the so-called runner’s high. Now researchers are also pointing to myokines (肌肉因子) as an important contributor to the mental health benefits of exercise. When our muscles contract, myokines are released into the bloodstream, helping your muscles and organs communicate. They think this communication increases resilience to stress, reduces symptoms of mental suffering and anxiety and has a direct effect on depression.

A 2021 scientific report published in Neuropharmacology showed evidence that myokines boost brain function, like improving memory and mood. “Myokines reduce systemic inflammation (炎症), which is especially beneficial for people with drug-resistant depression whose low mood is linked to high inflammation,” explains Dr Jennifer Heisz, an expert in brain health and associate professor in the department of kinesiology at McMaster University in Canada.

A recent study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine showed that treatment for depression can be much more effective when physical activity is added to the usual care. Participants found benefits after 12 weeks of exercising for 30 to 60 minutes a day. “While exercise is not a replacement for professional mental health treatment, physical activity can complement and enhance the effects of the treatment,” says lead researcher Ben Singh, a research fellow at the University of South Australia.

“It is amazing to consider how moving our bodies can heal our minds,” says Heisz. Whether you’re cycling, walking around your neighbourhood or doing yoga, getting sweaty is good for your body and mind. To get the biggest overall health boost, the key is to zero in on sports and activities you enjoy, so you’ll keep going back to them.

10 . The rate of childhood obesity in the U. S. has tripled over the past 50 years. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) made waves this year by recommending that doctors put obese kids as young as two years old on intensive, family-oriented lifestyle and behavior plans. It also suggested prescribing weight-loss drugs to children l2 and older and surgery to teens 13 and older. This advice reflects the organization’s adoption of a more active position on childhood obesity.

Yet the lifestyle programs the AAP recommends are expensive, inaccessible to most children and hard to maintain. Few weight-loss drugs have been approved for children. And surgery has potential risks and few long-term safety data. Furthermore, it’s not clear whether interventions in youngsters help to improve health or merely add to the psychological burden overweight kids face from the society.

Rather than paying close attention to numbers on a scale, the U. S. and countries with similar trends should focus on an underlying truth: we need to invest in more and safer places for children to play where they can move and run around, climb and jump, ride and skate.

Why is it so hard to get kids moving? Experts blame the problem on the privatization of sports — as public investment in school-based athletics dwindles, expensive private leagues have grown, leaving many kids out. In addition to fewer opportunities at school, researchers cite increased screen time and a lack of safe places for them to play outside the home. New York City, for example, had 2,067 public playgrounds as of 2019 — a very small amount for its large population. In Los Angeles in 2015, only 33 percent of youths lived within walking distance of a park.

Kids everywhere need more places to play. Public funding to build and keep up these areas is crucial, but other options such as shared-use agreements can make unused spaces available to the public. These opportunities aren’t primarily about changing children’s waistlines — they’re how we keep childhood healthy and fun.