1 . Yoga has a well-deserved reputation for helping improve balance and flexibility and for inducing calm and relaxation. But as for weight loss, many people assume other types of exercise will benefit more. While you might not burn as many calories by practicing yoga as you would by running or doing some other high-intensity activities, yoga can still raise your heart rate and help build muscle.     1    

● Reduce stress and reduce pounds. Yoga helps deal with stress.     2     Yoga has an impact on the body’s stress response and reduces the production of chemicals linked to weight gain, such as cortisol (皮质醇), a stress hormone.

● Move well and eat well.     3     Participants involved in yoga practice realize that they tend to notice not only the amount of food they eat, but also what type of foods they eat and the impact of eating those foods. They become aware of the effect of certain foods on their bodies during their yoga practice.

●     4     Doing yoga long term not only can help people lose weight but also can strengthen cognitive skills to help keep it off. A multiyear study examines the possibility of yoga maintaining weight loss. Its findings suggest that yoga may help to improve long-term weight loss outcomes via improvements in distress tolerance, self-compassion and a more positive mood.

Yoga is a very reasonable form of exercise, but you have to choose the right type. A 2021 study found no difference in weight loss totals for participants practicing a gentle, restorative yoga versus a more vigorous type of yoga.     5     Everybody can benefit from a yoga practice.

2 . 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.

4 . Running is often tiring and a lot of hard work, but nothing beats the feeling you get after finishing a long workout around the track.

But while it’s long been believed that endorphins (内啡肽) —chemicals in the body that cause happiness—are behind the so-called “runner’s high”, a study suggested that there may be more to this phenomenon than we previously knew.

According to a recent study published by a group of scientists from several German universities, a group of chemicals called endocannabinoids (内源性大麻素) may actually be responsible for this familiar great feeling.

To test this theory, the scientists turned to mice. Both mice and humans release high levels of endorphins and endocannabinoids after exercise. After exercising on running wheels, the mice seemed happy and relaxed and displayed no signs of anxiety. But after being given a drug to block their endorphins, the mice’s behavior didn’t seem to change. However, when their endocannabinoids were blocked with a different drug, their runners’ high symptoms seemed to fade.

“The long-held notion of endorphins being responsible for the runner’s high is false. Endorphins are effective pain relievers, but only when it comes to the pain in your body and muscles you feel after working out,” Patrick Lucas Austin wrote on science blog Lifchacker.

Similar studies are yet to be carried out on humans, but it’s already known that exercise is a highly effective way to get rid of stress or anxiety. The UK’s National Health Service even prescribes (开药 方) exercise to patients who are suffering from depression. “Being depressed can leave you feeling low in energy, which might put you off being more active. Regular exercise can improve your mood if you have depression, and its especially useful for people with mild to moderate (中等的) depression,” it wrote on its website.

It seems like nothing can beat that feeling we get after a good workout, even if we don’t fully understand where it comes from. At least if we’re feeling down, we know that all we have to do is to put on our running shoes.

5 . 17-year-old Tibetan girl Cigla is a freshman at Nagqu No. 2 Senior High School in Lhasa, which sit 3,650 meters above sea level. She now plays point guard for the school’s 12-member female basketball team.

“Practice makes perfect. You get used to the altitude when you love the sport and train hard enough,” said the potential basketball star, who has been crazy about the sport since taking it up three years ago.

With outstanding speed and accurate passes, she never fails to shine on the basketball court, even when she competes against the boys. Though she is a freshman in high school, Cigla already has a clear picture of her future--entering a sports college to study basketball. In the eyes of Cila, who comes from a poor herder’s (牧民的) family in northern Tibet, studying in Lhasa, the most developed city in this area, has made it much easier for her to realize her basketball dream.

With an average altitude of over 4,500 meters. Nagqu is among the most uninhabitable places in Tibet. Low-oxygen environments and extreme weather have long influenced the health of Nagqu students, hampering the development of primary education in the area.

Like Cigla, many students at the school are from poor farmers’ and herders’ families. Dawa Droma, a senior student also on the school’s female basketball team, recalled, “I had never touched a basketball before that game but joined the class team anyway. When I scored and heard my classmates cheer for me, I couldn’t feel more proud. That’s how I fell in love with basketball and why I never looked back.” Reflecting on the influence of basketball on her life, Dawa Droma said the sport had helped her get fit and build up confidence over the years. “Meeting players from different schools has certainly made me a more outgoing person,” she said.

7 . 2023 Illustration (插画) Competition

Enter the competition most respected and admired in the industry for creativity in illustration, the Communication Arts Illustration Competition. Selected by distinguished professionals, the winning entries will be distributed worldwide in the Communication Arts Illustration Annual and on commarts. com, ensuring important exposure of the creations. Each winner will receive a personalized Award of Excellence, made from solid aluminum (铝), and an award certificate. Communication Arts’s Award of Excellence is one of the most desired awards. If chosen, winning places you in the highest ranks of your profession.

What To Enter With

Any illustration first published or produced from Jan. 2022 to Jan. 2023 is fit. Entries may originate from any country. Descriptions in English are necessary for the judges to read.

Entries Can Be Submitted In The Following Formats

Digital Images: RGB images in JPG format with a maximum file size of 2 MB. GIF images may be livelier, but would be turned down, and so would the PNG ones.

Motion Entries: In MOV, MP4 or MPG format, with a maximum file size of 500 MB.

Illustration Competition Categories & Entry Fees

For more categories (advertising, self-promotion, etc.), please download the category PDF.

Late Fees

Entries must be registered no later than Jan. 13, 2023. Entries registered after that date will be charged a fee of $10 each. No entries can be registered after Jan. 27, 2023.

8 . More scientists are exploring cellular senescence(衰老)—a state in which cells(细胞)no longer divide. Senescent cells, which build up in older bodies, have a link to age-related conditions such as dementia(痴呆) disease.

Scientists are exploring drugs that treat senescent cells. But the most promising tool against the bad effects of senescent cells, experts say, is exercise.

Today, LeBrasseur, who directs a center on aging at Mayo, says exercise is “the most promising tool that we have” for good health in late life, and its power spreads to our cells. Research suggests exercise prevents the buildup of senescent cells, helping the immune(免疫的)system clear them and fight the cell damage that can affect aging.

Last year, LeBrasseur led a study that provided the first sign in humans that exercise greatly affected senescence. It cut signs in the bloodstream of the effects of senescent cells in the body.

After a 12-week exercise program, researchers found that older adults had cut signs of senescence and improved body strength, physical ability and reported health.   A recent study collects even more facts—in animals and humans—for exercise as a treatment to fight against senescence cells.

While such studies are not well-known outside scientific circles, many older adults connect exercise with youthfulness. Farmer Mike Gale, 81, put in a track and field throwing circle on his large farm in California. He and some of his friends throw the discus(铁饼) and use other exercise equipment. “I'd like to be competing in my 90s,” Gale says. “Why not?”

95-year-old Richard Soller says exercise keeps him fit enough to deal with what comes his way—including the discovery that his wife of 62 years had developed dementia. The two sometimes walk the streets of their neighborhood together, holding hands. “Do as much as you can,” he says. “That should be the goal for anyone to stay healthy.”