44 oxygenmag.com
thrive HEALTH By VIrginia Pelley
Not to stress you out, but two types of
job-related stressors considered risk
factors for heart disease have been
increasing since 2002, researchers
at SUNY Downstate Medical Center
School of Public Health say: high-
demand and low-control work. They
suspect increasing burdens on work-
ing parents might be a cause. To help
manage your tasks and take breaks
that help combat stress overload,
download the Be Focused app on
your iPhone or iPad.Work
stress
and
your
heartA striking pattern
Help might be on the way, in app
form, for preventing stress frac-
tures and tendonitis from running.
Researchers at the Hong Kong
Polytechnic University developed
an award-winning biofeedback
“sensing insole” they say can help
runners prevent injury by helping
them achieve a midfoot strike
pattern, or Goldilocks-perfect gait.“Bouldering,” a form of rock climbing at moderate heights without ropes or har-
nesses, appears to reduce symptoms of depression, new research suggests. It combines
aspects of mindfulness with physical activity, both of which have been shown in previous
research to lessen depression, notes study co-author Eva-Maria Stelzer, a Ph.D. candidate
in psychology at the University of Arizona. “It requires individuals to be present in the
moment and thus takes their mind off worries,” Stelzer says. Bouldering’s social aspects
and the sense of achievement it off ers also might help alleviate depression, she adds.Just one alcoholic drink a day
might raise premenopausal
women’s risk for breast can-
cer by 5 percent (9 percent
for women postmenopause),
according to a recent study.
But the researchers also noted
that vigorous exercise, such as
running and fast biking, ap-
pears to have a protective
eff ect. The most active pre-
menopausal women studied
had a 17 percent lower risk
than the least active subjects;
postmenopausal women had a
10 percent lower risk. “Exercise
can lower excess insulin and
some blood markers of infl am-
mation in women of any age,”
says Anne McTiernan, M.D.,
Ph.D., lead author and cancer
prevention researcher at the
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Re-
search Center in Seattle. “These
markers are related to breast
cancer risk.”to reduce risk
Go
Boulderrace