Bad Breath

Is your bad breath causing social problems? The cure might be easier than you think.

... The bacterium that causes bad breath feeds on protein, and whether it finds its sustenance in a steak sandwich or the naturally occurring protein in your saliva, you can never fully remove its food source. There are foods other than meat, however, that can either provide a meal for odor-causing bacteria or a friendly environment for them to grow in. We’ve listed some of the most common offenders below. Read more

How Pillows Can Make Your Legs Stronger

Adding a wobble to your leg workout can make your legs work 13 percent harder.

The most unlikely aid to your leg exercise? Bed pillows--they can make your legs stronger. When men attempted single-leg squats while standing on a cushy surface, their hips and leg muscles worked up to 13 percent harder, report Mayo Clinic researchers. Read more

Wise Answers to Old Wives' Tales

Experts reveal the truth behind six of the most popular (and persistent) health rumors. George Costanza isn't going to like what a researcher discovered about double-dipping.

Does reading in low light really hurt your eyes? How about sitting too close to the TV? (No, and no.) Why are you better off drinking exactly eight glasses of water per day? (You're not.) Thanks to quack culture, the Internet, and well-intentioned but poorly informed relatives, it's become harder than ever to separate fact from fiction. Whatever its origin, misleading health information can cause unnecessary anxiety and distract you from wellness habits that truly deserve your energy and attention. Here's a dissection of six watercooler myths that will give you all the authority you need to refute your brother's latest forwarded e-mails. Read more

Is Yoga Really Enought to Keep You Fit?

For those who don't like aerobics or lifting weights, the practice of yoga has benefits well beyond flexibility and relaxation. Recent research shows that yoga may also improve strength, aerobic capacity, and lung function.

When it came to the fitness benefits yoga can or can't provide, yoga teacher John Schumacher had heard it all. A student of B. K. S. Iyengar for 20 years and founder of the Unity Woods studios in the Washington, D.C. area, Schumacher was convinced yoga provides a complete fitness regime. But many people, even some of his own students, disagreed. Yoga might be good for flexibility or relaxation, they'd say, but to be truly fit, you had to combine it with an activity like running or weight lifting.

Schumacher just didn't buy it. Read more

Why a Food Diary Will Double Your Weight Loss

Want an easy way to double your weight loss? Sanjay Gupta, M.D. reports in Time magazine about a new study that found that dieters who kept a food diary lost twice the weight of those who didn't.

Two nights ago, I had a handful of M&M's. In fact, I can tell you I ate seven of the peanut kind, which is my favorite. Under normal circumstances, I would've simply grabbed a bunch, mindlessly eaten them while talking to a colleague and forgotten them entirely.

Instead, I know the specific number I ate because I am keeping a food diary. I write down everything I consume, with great detail. I had a single packet of ketchup with my eggs the other morning and 4 oz. (113 g) of green-tea-flavored frozen yogurt with my daughter two days before that. I started the diary because I wanted to test the striking new results of a paper published in the August issue of American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Scientists at several clinical-research centers in the U.S. found that dieters who kept a food diary lost twice as much weight as those who didn't. Read more

How Running Helps You Live Longer

A new study shows that runners had half the death rate of non-runners. Notice, though, that runners often reduced their running, but maintained their exercise time by increasing other activity. It's any vigorous exercise - not necessarily running or even aerobic exercise - that confers the benefits.

People who want to live a long and healthy life might want to take up running.

A study published on Monday shows middle-aged members of a runner's club were half as likely to die over a 20-year period as people who did not run.

Running reduced the risk not only of heart disease, but of cancer and neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's, researchers at Stanford University in California found. Read more

Mixed Martial Arts Workout

Jens "Lil Evil" Pulver shows you how to train like a fighter at Men's Fitness.

WEC fighter Jens Pulver uses this workout to train his entire body in one session with a focus on strength and endurance. The workout is designed to be just as draining mentally as it is physically, so that Pulver develops the mental toughness he needs to get through a strenuous fight.

Warm-up

He starts with sprints to raise his heart rate and engage the muscle fibers that are responsible for powerful, explosive movements. This serves as a warm up for his workout, which consists of five stations of exercises performed back to back. Between exercises, Pulver rests 60 sec. Read more

Your Brain on Exercise: How Working Out Makes You Smarter

Exercise improves your body, but it also improves your mind. Regular exercisers learn faster, remember more, think more clearly, and even recover more easily from brain injuries.

Athletes and people who exercise not only have better bods — they have better brains too, a host of studies have now firmly established.

A review of studies published earlier this month, in fact, found that a balanced diet and regular exercise can protect the brain and ward off mental disorders.

Other research has focused just on the effects of exercise. The bottom line: Exercisers learn faster, remember more, think clearer and bounce back more easily from brain injuries such as a stroke. They are also less prone to depression and age-related cognitive decline.

But why should a mindless half-hour on a treadmill affect your brain? Read more

How to Sleep Well on a Hot Night

Everyone knows that there is nothing more frustrating than trying to sleep on a sweltering night. The Guardian's Jon Henley has come up with some tips to help beat the heat.

Apologies, first, if this answer is not up to the usual high standard. It's hard to concentrate after a week of four hours' sleep a night. And it takes only a couple of degrees: anything much above 18C and half of will us will spend the night tossing and turning.

So how to maximise your chances of a good night's kip in such conditions? The following are culled from a variety of sources - some expert, some I suspect not. But somebody swears by each and every one of them. Read more

Why Fatty Fish Is Good for Your Brain

For years, the "food police" tried to convince Americans that fat was bad for them, but that scientific consensus has been discredited. Fat is once again recognized as important to health, and as is often the case, studies show that eating nutritious food is more beneficial than taking supplements to obtain essential fatty acids.

Looking to boost your memory and concentration? You're better off eating oily fish twice a week than popping expensive herbal pills or fish oil supplements, according to a consumer survey.

Australian consumer group Choice tested several supplements and found that two weekly servings of fish rich in omega-3 fatty acids, such as sardines and salmon, can boost brain function as much as or more than pills containing ginkgo biloba, brahmi and fish oil.

Fish oil supplements were also found to contain less of the maximum daily dietary target of omega-3. Read more

Soy Foods "Reduce Sperm Numbers"

Eating even moderate amounts of soy can cut a man's sperm concentration in half because foods like tofu and soy milk contain estrogen.

A regular diet of even modest amounts of food containing soy may halve sperm concentrations, suggest scientists.

The study, published in the journal Human Reproduction, found 41 million fewer sperm per millilitre of semen after just one portion every two days.

The authors said plant oestrogens in foods such as tofu, soy mince or milk may interfere with hormonal signals. Read more