Health Trends For 2021

Straits Times 1/1/21

Great suggestion in today's Straits Times article on the back page (B16, under Sports section) where the author suggested having more local running events for women.

I say not just more races for women only, but men and those under 21 too. In a year where most if not all running races were cancelled, runners are starved for social interaction and a chance to clock a personal best time for some or be quick enough for that elusive Boston qualifying (or BQ) time.

Perhaps with the rollout of the vaccines making exercising in enclosed spaces safe again, people may still want to go back to gyms, yoga studios and fitness centers etc.

I'm hope I'm wrong for the sake of those businesses, but I think gyms, yoga, Pilates studios may not be totally out of the woods yet. Bike shops, cheap dumbbells and other home exercise equipment will definitely continue to be in hot demand. Since March 2020, where most the world started lockdowns, too many people have learnt how simple, cheap and safe training at home is. 

I'm predicting that running, cycling, long walks and roller blading will continue to be popular in this new year. Let's all recognize the benefits of our local parks, bike lanes, park connectors and green spaces. All these spaces definitely impact our health.

A lot of us started baking, cooking and even growing our own food since the lockdown. All are healthy trends and may we continue to do that.

Let's continue to support our own local communities, the smaller shops and restaurants as they battle to carry on. We bought all our Christmas and birthday gifts from Everyday Vegan Grocer and Le Matin.

Here's wishing all of you a safe, healthy and wonderful year ahead.

Do More Bicyclists Lead To More Injuries?

Not necessarily so, if research from a well-established body is true. Bicycle-riding patterns in the United States and Europe were studied and what was found was when the number of cyclists on the road increases, the likelihood of accidents declines. This surprising result is known among its researchers as the “safety in numbers” effect, and has been repeatedly documented. (This is true. When I ride in a huge group on Saturdays, we do get more respect from drivers.)

This particular post's topic was what the New York Times discussed just a few days ago on 291009.

Why is this so, you may wonder? How can more cyclists mean fewer road accidents? The author of a Californian study thinks that adaptation in motorist behavior seems to be the reason rather than people cycling obeying traffic laws. In other words, when more cyclists ride on the roads, car drivers become used to them and respond appropriately.

There is a catch of course, In the early stages of increasing bike ridership, more accidents may occur, since drivers will not yet be used to the influx of bicycles (and many of the cyclists will not be used to cycling in heavy traffic).

Well this is what I've noticed here in Singapore. While I do not have hard facts to back me me up, a personal observation of mine is that in the last few years, there seems to be an increasing number of cyclists on our roads. I'm not sure about the rate of accidents but if it's true than of course less injuries from accidents are great, but I do see more cyclists getting sports injuries..... that will probably be another post.

Like many other increasing number of cyclists here in Singapore, I too ride to work at Sports Solutions daily, both for health reasons and also to do my part to go green. (Actually, it is also because I get really impatient waiting for the bus). So all you drivers out there, do look out for us cyclists on the roads.

Here's the link to the New York Times article.

*Picture by Getty Images

Risk Of Osteoporosis In Male Cyclists

Now that I've gotten your attention, the picture of the CT scan on the left shows a healthy tibia (shin bone) while the one on the right shows one that is osteoporotic.

Now, here's the very surprising news that I read from this article recently. In their study, the researchers found that the group of serious male cyclists had greater rates of osteoporosis when compared to a group of control subjects. That's very surprising as women are more usually prone to having osteoporosis as compared to men.

The very exact reason why cycling is an excellent exercise also has its dramatic drawback because of its low weight bearing nature. Less weight bearing means less loading on your bones and joints (that's why it's good), but it also means that it doesn't stress your bones enough to stimulate it. Our bones need a certain degree of weight bearing stress to stimulate it to regenerate to form new and stronger bone. Hence, some degree of weight-bearing is not only good for the bones but also necessary.

In this study, the serious male cyclists (rides 7-22 hours a week and 9.4 years of racing experience), had lower body fat, more muscle and greater calcium intake compared to an age and weight matched control group. However, they also had 2.5-3 times greater rates of osteoporosis and osteopenia (near-osteoporosis).

So what's a biker gotta do about this, you'll ask? The researchers didn't offer any advice, but it'll be fair for me to suggest that a modest amount of running and/ or strength training in a standing position (hence weight bearing) will probably do the trick. Want something more challenging, try rock climbing.


Reference

Smathers, AM et al (2009). Bone Density Comparisons In Male Competitive Road Cyclists and Untrained Controls. Medicine & Science In Sports & Exercise. Feb; 41(2): 290-296