Womens' Health: Alcohol?

(Editorial comment: In the interest of seeing my hypertension and my weight better-controlled, I've worked to cut back my beer intake to no more than two a day. That, tracking my food intake, and continued running...fingers crossed for better results when my lab work comes back after the new year. MB)


I Gave up Drinking Alcohol (Mostly)—Here’s What Happened
One woman explores how the “mindful drinking” movement is helping people get high on being dry. Joy Manning/Women’s Health/December 27, 2017


A glass of wine at the end of a workday. A cocktail before a social event. For 20 years, my drinking had been moderate. But maintaining moderation was a struggle. There were plenty of nights I’d promise myself I wouldn’t imbibe but end up indulging, or have four drinks instead of the planned one.


These behaviors are red flags for problem drinking, and they’re alarmingly common. Between 2002 and 2013, the number of women engaging in high-risk drinking (four or more in a night) rose by nearly 60 percent. The spike may be driven in part by the quest for gender equality: keeping up with men in politics, careers, and even alcohol consumption, says psychologist Sharon Wilsnack, Ph.D., a professor of behavioral science at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks. That's dangerous, since women are more vulnerable to alcohol-related health problems...


(Link to article)

CTS: I'm Only (Not) Sleeping

Why Can't I Sleep After A Hard Workout or Race?
Chris Carmichael/CTS, June 8 2017


Here’s a scenario a ton of athletes experience, but few talk about: The night after finishing a big endurance competition or a long and strenuous workout, you lie awake in bed or toss and turn despite being thoroughly exhausted. Your sleeplessness may be compounded by feeling like you are radiating heat or you can feel/hear your heartbeat. And even if you are able to get to sleep initially, you struggle to stay asleep and fail to have a restful night. What gives? How can an exhausting event leave you sleepless?


There isn’t one simple cause for post-exercise insomnia, but there are definitely factors that contribute to it...


(Link to Article)

Outside: Democratizing Sport

Meet The People Making Running More Inclusive
The sport still has a long way to go, but these leaders are pushing for more diversity
Martin Fritz Huber/Outside, May 19 2017

In the lead-up to last summer’s Olympics in Rio, mega-event critic and Olympic historian Jules Boykoff had a suggestion for reducing the cost of future Games while bringing a greater number of countries into the five-ring fold. In a nutshell: more runners, fewer horses. “People from around the world can run and you don’t need tons of equipment like, say, dressage,” Boykoff said at the time. “So a real positive thing the Olympics can do is to try to bring in more sports that more people can play—in other words, democratize sports.”

It’s easy to see where he’s coming from. After all, running doesn’t pose the obvious economic or geographic barriers that make more extravagant forms of recreation—like skiing, golf, or, indeed, horseback riding—the purview of the privileged few. But even as recent years have seen record numbers of road race participants in the United States, work still needs to be done to broaden the reach of the sport—particularly by challenging market and media-driven ideas about what a typical runner looks like.

These individuals are on the front lines of that fight.

(Link to Article)

Fusion via Outside Online: Her Training Partner Was Deported...

She was training with her dad for the LA Marathon. Then he was taken away by ICE. 
Jorge Rivas//Fusion Mar 20 2017

LOS ANGELES—It took 13-year-old Fatima Avelica exactly six hours and 48 minutes to run all 26.2 miles of the Los Angeles Marathon on Sunday.

She didn’t struggle until mile 18. She says what got her through to the finish line was picturing her dad cheering her on and yelling, “You can do it!”

Fatima had trained with her dad, Romulo Avelica-Gonzalez, who often didn’t get to bed until 3 AM after working a restaurant night shift, but still dutifully got up at 5 AM to drive to the beach and ride his bike alongside Fatima and her sister as they trained. “

The training was fun because my dad was always there motivating us,” Fatima told me ahead of the marathon as we sat in a lobby by the main entrance at her high school.

That ended on Feb. 28, when Romulo was arrested by immigration agents moments after he dropped off Fatima’s younger sister at school. (Link)