Which is better: body weight training or weightlifting? Both have epic health benefits. How’s this: 23% – this is the reduction in risk of premature death in people who regularly did body-weight training. Weight train twice a week and you could cut your long-term risk of cardiac death by a whopping 41%. So… when it comes to the gains, which one wins?

The science

Most lifting moves are open-chain (you pull/push an object) and body-weight exercises are often closed-chain (you move your body). So? Closed chain moves boost lower-body strength 18 percent more than open chain.

Lifting weights is associated with a 37 percent reduction in risk of metabolic syndrome, which can be a cause of heart disease and diabetes. This is thought to be due to the increase in muscle mass.

READ MORE: Which Is Actually Better: Cardio Or Weights?

The good

Body weight training: You can train absolutely anywhere. Body-weight exercises don’t require any equipment and can be done in confined spaces. Guns can be built on a balcony in Benoni or a farm in KZN.

Lifting: Loading up isolated areas in exercises such as biceps curls, leg extensions and lat pull-downs means you have total control over which part of your body you want to work. Ideal if you’re recovering from injury.

The bad

Body weight training: If you’re after Wonder Woman-esque strength, just using your body weight will limit you eventually because you can’t load your moves to make them more challenging.

Lifting: Heavy lifting spikes your blood pressure, which could cause complications if you’re at high risk for heart conditions. And if your form is off, you could hurt yourself pretty badly. So make sure you go over your medical history with a professional before you hit the weights and learn the form before you go heavy.

READ MORE: 10 Of The Best Fat-Burning Workouts You Can Do At The Gym

The expert verdict

Body weight training: “Weightlifting carries a higher risk of injury than body-weight training, so the latter is great for a beginner. Training this way also enhances balance, agility and flexibility.” – Bradley Simmonds, personal trainer

Lifting: “Strength training burns fat and builds lean muscle. Using equipment allows you to track your progress and increase the load to maximise your results.” – Laura Hoggins, personal trainer

The killer moveBody weight training: Holding a plank is hard enough, but if you want to amp up the burn, try a cross-body plank toe-tap variation. Start in high plank, then lift your bum up and reach one hand back to touch the opposite foot. Continue alternating sides for as long as you’d normally hold your plank. You’ll be burning.

Lifting: The old Olympic stalwart, clean and press, is a dynamic move that hits multiple muscle groups and elevates your heart rate – basically a fat burner’s dream. Start with a modest weight and focus on technique to avoid hurting your back.

READ MORE: 4 Amazing Body Benefits Of Weightlifting That’ll Persuade You To Give It A Try

For the win?

Weightlifting. Body-weight workouts are a great option for holidays when you just want to keep your fitness ticking over. But when it comes to everyday training, they won’t elevate your gains quite like pumping iron.

^{This article was originally published on womenshealthsa.co.za}

^{Image credit: iStock}

Florence Mitchell

Coughing is a normal response by the body to get rid of irritants in the airways. There are many things that may cause a cough – from colds and flu, to allergies and other more serious respiratory conditions. A cough can last from days to months.

But what if your cough is combined with other unpleasant symptoms and just won’t go away? It could be related to a more serious condition that needs medical attention. Here are some instances where you need to see a doctor as soon as possible:

1. Coughing up blood

Coughing up blood (hemoptysis) is a sign that something serious is going on. It can signal anything from infections, cancers to a problem in the blood vessels of the lungs.

Conditions like lung cancer, tuberculosis, congestive heart failure, internal injury to the lungs or a pulmonary embolism (a blood clot in your lungs) can all cause hemoptysis. While these causes are less common in a chronic cough, you should always seek medical attention when coughing up blood.

2. Night sweats

When you experience excessive sweating at night, along with your cough, it could signal pulmonary tuberculosis (TB). TB is an airborne disease that can spread when carriers cough and others breathe in the airborne bacteria. You may also experience unexplained weight loss and constant fatigue.

3. Thick mucus or sputum

When you cough up pink, frothy sputum with bubbles, it could signal excess fluid in your lungs (pulmonary oedema), which requires urgent medical attention. When you cough up extremely thick mucus or phlegm, it can either be a sign of bronchitis, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Green or yellow mucus can be a symptom of an infection like sinusitis or pneumonia.

4. Wheezing and struggling to breathe

If you constantly experience shortness of breath when you cough, you could be suffering from asthma. You will also produce a wheezing sound. Bronchitis causes swelling, inflammation and irritation of airways in the lungs, making breathing very difficult.

^{Image credit: iStock}

Marelize Wilke

Scotland’s chief medic says Zholia Alemi may have prescribed ECT and wrongly detained mental health patients.

For many in the United States, May and September mean lovebug season. The lovebug, also known as Plecia nearctica, is a fly species that’s found throughout Southern states in both the fall and spring. The bug has been in the news lately because it’s been ruining vacations. This made us wonder about how the insect could affect our health.

First, a little background about these insects: Lovebugs are small and black, with a “velvety” appearance. They are often identified by the bright red area behind their heads.

Lovebugs are particularly bothersome to people who drive. “The adult flies are a nuisance to motorists because the flies are attracted to highways and spatter on the hood and windshield of vehicles,” according to research on the species from the University of Florida. The bugs can clog radiators and reduce visibility on the road. They can also mess up your car’s paint job.

Lovebugs are perhaps best known for an (untrue) urban legend surrounding them: Some say the bugs were created by entomologists, or people who study bugs. As the legend goes, “Sometime in the 1950s an experiment gone horribly wrong at the University of Florida produced a pesky bug with no apparent purpose,” according to a 2004 University of Florida news release. “The strange-looking insect—commonly known as the lovebug—managed to escape from researchers and began to spread rapidly, wreaking havoc on people and cars.”

It turns out, however, that the lovebug’s arrival in Florida was much less dramatic. It simply migrated to Florida from the Gulf Coast. The insects are also found in Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, Mexico, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, South Carolina, North Carolina, Mississippi, and Texas.

So are these invasive critters dangerous? Thankfully, no. While they might be a pain to people who are frequently on the road, lovebugs are harmless. “They’re everywhere, but they’re not a hazard. They don’t bite, and they don’t sting,” Douglas Lipka, an assistant professor of biology at William Carey University in Mississippi, told the Associated Press.

While we’re on the topic, though, there are a few other headline-making bugs you should be looking out for this summer. Two of the most worrisome are the kissing bug and the tick.

The kissing bug can cause a potentially-fatal condition called Chagas disease, and it’s been found in the following states: California, Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, West Virginia, Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware.

Kissing bugs usually have red or orange stripes around their bodies, and are bigger than a penny. The bugs, technically known as triatomine bugs, got their nickname from their tendency to bite humans around their mouths as they sleep.

RELATED: 9 Bug Bites You Might Get This Summer–and What to Do About Them

As for ticks (which are technically arachnids, not insects), they can carry a variety of dangerous bacteria—including Borrelia burgdorferi, which causes lyme disease. Lyme disease has been confirmed in every US state, and is especially prevalent in the northeast.

Ticks can attach themselves to any part of the body, and are often found in difficult-to-notice areas, such as the armpits, groin, and scalp. An infected tick must be attached for 36 to 48 hours, in most cases, in order to transmit Borrelia burgdorferi to its host. Another tickborne disease, Powassan virus, is less common but can be fatal—and can also be transmitted much faster.

In conclusion, if you’re going camping this summer, you should definitely be on the lookout for creepy-crawlies that have the potential to harm you. But as far as lovebugs are concerned, your sanity is the only thing at risk.

RELATED: 15 Important Facts You Must Know About Ticks

Six types of commercially available tattoo inks have been contaminated with harmful bacteria, the FDA said in a statement this week.

The administration is urging consumers to pause before getting any new tattoos and tattoo artists to confirm they’re not using any of the recalled ink.

The government became aware of the contaminated ink after inspecting tattoo ink manufacturers and distributors and collecting survey information. The FDA analyzed samples of tattoo inks to evaluate consumers’ risks.

It now says the inks have the “potential for serious injury.” The new statement explains that “[t]attoo inks contaminated with microorganisms can cause infections and lead to serious health injuries when injected into the skin during a tattooing procedure, since there is an increased risk of infection any time the skin barrier is broken.”

Infections associated with tattoo ink can cause rashes and lesions that contain raised, red bumps on the skin. Permanent scarring can also result from a tattoo-related infection. Signs of an infection can be hard to spot, the FDA statement notes, because they might seem like allergic reactions or other conditions. This confusion can lead to misdiagnosis and useless treatments.

The four companies that manufactured the contaminated inks are currently being monitored by the FDA, the statement says. The statement also includes some advice for people thinking about getting a tattoo in the near future: Ask the person you choose to give you a tattoo what kind of ink they use—and put your plans on hold if they use one or more of the inks found to be contaminated.

RELATED: This Might Make You Rethink Getting a Tattoo

The contaminated inks are Scalpaink SC, Scalpaink PA, and Scalpaink AL basic black tattoo inks made by Scale Aesthetics; Dynamic Color – Black tattoo ink made by Dynamic Color Inc; and Solid Ink – Diablo (red) tattoo ink made by Color Art Inc.

The FDA’s statement says consumers should seek medical assistance if they’ve recently gotten a tattoo and are worried they might have been exposed to the contaminated ink. They should alert the tattoo artist, too, so the artist can check and see if they are using one of the potentially contaminated inks. People affected by the contaminated ink are also urged to report their infection to the FDA via its Adverse Events Reporting website.

Anyone thinking about getting a tattoo should know about potential complications of the procedure, even without the potential of contaminated ink. Tattooing causes tiny holes in the surface of the skin, which increase the risk of infection; there’s also the potential for skin irritation or allergic reactions from the tattoo ink. A 2017 study also found that tattoo inks can seep beneath the surface of the skin and accumulate in lymph nodes, although researchers couldn’t say whether this side effect is actually linked to any health problems.  

RELATED: These Stunning Tattoos Are Helping Sexual Assault Survivors Deal With Their Trauma

Everybody gossips. Sure, we like to think that our daily conversations are strictly productive idea exchanges and debates about life’s unanswered questions. But in reality, we all talk about other people.

In fact, a new study published in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science found that the typical person spends about 52 minutes per day gossiping. The surprise, though, is that most people aren’t walking around whispering “Did you hear what so and so did last weekend?” in their coworkers’ ears. Instead, they’re just sharing information about the people in their lives with those around them.

That’s the simple definition of gossiping, per the study authors: talking about a person who isn’t present. It's not necessarily about spreading malicious rumors or embarrassing stories, just sharing information. You gossip when you tell someone that next weekend your cousin is getting married, your best friend is starting a new job, or your daughter has her big dance recital coming up.

RELATED: Jussie Smollett Lied About Being the Victim of a Hate Crime, Police Say. Why Would Someone Do That?

The new study found that most of those 52 minutes we spend gossiping each day involve sharing the harmless (and, let’s be honest, sometimes boring) details of everyday life—not trashing your colleague who got way too drunk at happy hour.

So why do we use up nearly an hour of precious time chatting about such ho-hum details of other people’s lives? Mark Leary, PhD, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Duke University who specializes in social and personal psychology, explains it to Health this way: Gossiping is a fundamental human instinct because our lives are deeply rooted in groups. We not only live in groups, but we also depend on the people in our groups to survive.

“In light of that, they need to have as much information as possible about the people around them in order to know what various other people are like, who can and can't be trusted, who breaks group rules, who is friends with who, what other people's personalities and viewpoints are, and so on,” Leary says.

RELATED: College Admissions Scandal: A Psychologist Explains Why a Parent Would Cheat and Lie to Get Their Kids Into School

Think about your groups. You depend on your family for love and compassion, and in many cases food and housing. You depend on your friends for social interaction and companionship. You depend on your employer for money and maybe health insurance. So if your mother tells you your father lost his job, you know you might need to find a different way to manage grocery bills and rent. If your coworker tells you that your boss is going to lay people off, you prepare to search for another source of income and insurance. Gossip is how we survive.

Gossiping for survival is as old as humanity itself. Every prehistoric human relied on other members of their tribe for things like food, shelter, and protection. If the member who usually hunts for your food suddenly gets sick and can’t hunt, you might starve if no one tells you that person is sick. If gossip of their illness spreads, you know you need to search for another food source.

Gossip doesn’t only teach us about the person who’s the subject of the conversation, but also about the person doing the talking, Leary says. “I can learn things about your attitudes, beliefs, and ways of dealing with people by seeing who and what you gossip about. Even if I don't join in, just hearing people gossip tells me things about what they think is important, whether they can be trusted to keep secrets, and so on.”

When you do join in, gossip can also strengthen your social bonds. A 2014 study published in the journal Psychological Science found gossip improves a group's cooperation and makes members less selfish.

RELATED: Smallville Actress Allison Mack Recruited Women for a Sex Cult—Why Would a Person Do That?

It also found that gossip can serve as a way of identifying and ostracizing untrustworthy members of the group. But all hope isn’t lost for those who are ostracized. Often the person who was shunned actually learns from the experience and improves their behavior, the study found. Just the threat of being excluded is an incentive for people to cooperate.

Of course, we can’t forget that gossip sometimes does turn ugly. “Some gossiping has negative consequences for the target,” Leary says, “and some can have negative consequences for the gossiper, such as if the target finds out, or if listeners conclude that the gossiper is an untrustworthy busybody who can't mind his or her own business.”

If your mother tells you that your father lost their job, your father might get mad at your mother for not giving him time to tell you himself. If your boss finds out that your coworker told you about the layoffs, your boss might lose trust in your coworker. Gossip can tear us apart just as easily as it can bring us together. “But at heart, sharing information about other people is important,” Leary says.

RELATED: What It Means to Be a High-Functioning Sociopath—and How to Tell If You Know One

Researchers at Indiana University School of Medicine have found a way to charge up the fight against bacterial infections using electricity.

A new study shows a drug developed in conjunction with investigators at Indiana University School of Medicine to alleviate symptoms of a rare musculoskeletal condition is significantly more effective than conventional therapies. The findings are published in Lancet.

A team of Brown University researchers found that opsin 3 — a protein closely related to rhodopsin, the protein that enables low-light vision — has a role in adjusting the amount of pigment produced in human skin, a determinant of skin color.

When it comes to pitching business ideas to potential investors, an entrepreneur’s excitement and enthusiasm can be the difference between dreams taking shape or ultimately falling flat.