1 . Race walking shares many fitness benefits with running, research shows, while most likely contributing to fewer injuries. It does, however, have its own problem.

Race walkers are conditioned athletes. The longest track and field event at the Summer Olympics is the 50-kilometer race walk, which is about five miles longer than the marathon. But the sport’s rules require that a race walker’s knees stay straight through most of the leg swing and one foot remain in contact (接触) with the ground at all times. It’s this strange form that makes race walking such an attractive activity, however, says Jaclyn Norberg, an assistant professor of exercise science at Salem State University in Salem, Mass.

Like running, race walking is physically demanding, she says, According to most calculations, race walkers moving at a pace of six miles per hour would burn about 800 calories(卡路里) per hour, which is approximately twice as many as they would burn walking, although fewer than running, which would probably burn about 1,000 or more calories per hour.

However, race walking does not pound the body as much as running does, Dr. Norberg says. According to her research, runners hit the ground with as much as four times their body weight per step, while race walkers, who do not leave the ground, create only about 1.4 times their body weight with each step.

As a result, she says, some of the injuries associated with running, such as runner’s knee, are uncommon among race walkers. But the sport’s strange form does place considerable stress on the ankles and hips, so people with a history of such injuries might want to be cautious in adopting the sport. In fact, anyone wishing to try race walking should probably first consult a coach or experienced racer to learn proper technique, she says. It takes some practice.

3 . If you are already making the time to exercise, it is good indeed! With such busy lives, it can be hard to try and find the time to work out.     1     Working out in the morning provides additional benefits beyond being physically fit.

Your productivity is improved. Exercising makes you more awake and ready to handle whatever is ahead of you for the day.     2    

Your metabolism(新陈代谢) gets a head start.     3     If you work out in the mornings, then you will be getting the calorie(卡路里) burning benefits for the whole day, not in your sleep.

    4     Studies found that people who woke up early for exercise slept better than those who exercised in the evening. Exercise energizes you, so it is more difficult to relax and have a peaceful sleep when you are very excited.

    5     If you work out bright and early in the morning, you will be more likely to stick to healthy food choices throughout the day. Who would want to ruin their good workout by eating junk food? You will want to continue to focus on positive choices.

There are a lot of benefits to working out, especially in the mornings. Set your alarm clock an hour early and push yourself to work out! You will feel energized all day long.

4 . Before there was the written word, there was the language of dance. Dance expresses love and hate, joy and sorrow, life and death, and everything else in between.

    1    We dance from Florida to Alaska, from north to south and sea to sea. We dance at weddings, birthdays, office parties and just to fill the time.

“I adore dancing,” says Lester Bridges, the owner of a dance studio in Iowa. “I can’t imagine doing anything else with my life.” Bridges runs dance classes for all ages. “Teaching dance is wonderful.     2    It’s great to watch them. For many of them, it’s a way of meeting people and having a social life.”

    3    “I can tell you about one young couple,” says Bridges. “They’re learning to do traditional dances. They arrive at the class in low spirits and they leave with a smile.     4    ”

So, do we dance in order to make ourselves feel better, calmer, healthier? Andrea Hillier says, “Dance, like the pattern of a beating heart, is life. Even after all these years, I want to get better and better.    5     I find it hard to stop! Dancing reminds me I’m alive.”

5 . Physical education, or PE, isn’t required for all high school students. In some schools, it isn’t offered for some different reasons. But should high school students have physical education? The answer is certainly “yes”.

Today many people don’t do sports. But as is known to all. doing sports is very important for an adult. Teaching teens the importance of a healthy lifestyle and making fitness plans now can help teens put exercise in the first place as an adult.

High school isn’t that easy. Many students are under a lot of stress. Stress can be harmful to a student’s studies and life. Doing sports can help them deal with stress better, helping them live a happier life at school.

The American Heart Association says that 10 million kids and teens suffer from obesity (肥胖). Teens should get 60 minutes of physical activity per day to control their weight and to help their bones get stronger. The increase in activities that don’t get teens to move around, such as computer games, means many teens don’t get their required exercise. PE classes act as a public health measure (措施) to encourage physical activities and help teens have healthy weights.

Not doing sports increases teens’ hazard of developing many diseases. An active lifestyle offers a good way of protection from these health problems. As much as 75 percent of health-care spending goes toward treating medical conditions that can be prevented by lifestyle changes, according to the American College of Sports Medicine.

According to the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition (PCFSN), students who performed five hours of physical activities each week improved their academic (学业的) performance. Students from programs with no physical activity, who used the extra time for classroom study, did not perform better on tests than those who gave up some study time in support of physical education.

6 . 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.

8 . Nowadays, are you sitting more and more? Take a moment to think about your sitting habits. You’re probably sitting while reading this.     1    Besides, many people still lie on the sofa swiping their phones instead of doing exercise after work. That’s undoubtedly a lot of sitting. The fact is that the amount of time spent sitting has increased over time.     2    

People know sitting too much is unsuitable, and most of us naturally feel a little guilty after a long-time TV watching. But what problems gradually exist when we seat ourselves for nearly eight hours per day? A study on nearly 8000 adults suggests that there’s a direct relationship between the time spent sitting and our risk of early death from any cause.     3    

“Sit less, move more” is what the Heart Foundation encourages us to do.     4    It is like telling people to just “exercise” without telling them how. Exercise guidelines are always more practical. For example, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends adults do exercise for two hours and 30 minutes every week, plus muscle strengthening exercise two or more days a week. We need similar guidelines for sitting.

    5    One of them is from Diaz’s research team. “It would probably be like this: for every 30 continuous minutes of siting, stand up and move or walk for five minutes at a quick pace,” Diaz, the lead researcher, said, adding that the study has put us a step closer to the satisfying guidelines. But more researches are needed to confirm their approaches.

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 . NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC KIDS 2020 PHOTO COMPETITION!

Woo-hoo! Get your cameras and smartphones at the ready, because it’s time for this year’s NG KIDS photography competition.

What you need to know

Competition is open only to legal residents (居民) of the UK and Ireland who are between the ages of 7 and 14.

We have THREE categories (类别) in the competition — animals, people and environment (a new category started this year). You can enter as many categories as you like but just ONE photo per category, please!

All photos should be sent through our website. If you’ve not already registered, you or your parent will need to do so at natgeokids. com/uk/ photocomp — it will only take a minute to do!

You can submit (提交) ONE photo for each of the three categories. Photos should be in JPEG format, between 1MB and 5MB in size. Enter at natgeokids. com/uk/photocomp.

Before you submit your photo, make sure you rename it with your full name and the category you are entering. For example, Joe-Bloggs-Animals. jpg.

Don’t forget to tell us your full name, date of birth and the title of your photo!

The prizes

Our Star Prize is a family holiday in Morocco!

And that’s not all! Each category winner will win a number of prizes too, including an amazing Nikon COOLPIX W150 camera, which is built to go anywhere.

The closing date is 23:59 (GMT) on 21 October 2020. Winners will be notified (通知) before 18 November 2020.