Coffee has long been the go-to beverage of the bleary-eyed early morning crowd – but could the jolt of energy that comes with all that caffeine be put to even better use in the gym?

For some people, the answer to that question is a resounding yes.

Read more: The drone that will deliver you coffee plus predict when you need it

While your local supplement store is likely to have shelves upon shelves of fancy pre-workout powders that get your heart rate buzzing, you could get the same type of benefit with a simple cup of coffee.

Why coffee could be great for your workout

Trainers and athletes alike swear by coffee over pre-workout supplements because they often have the same active ingredient: Caffeine.

The stimulant has proven effective in boosting athletic performance, and nutritionist Megan Medrano of Run Whole Nutrition told MensHealth.com that caffeine ingestion “can improve performance during intense exercise lasting 5 to 20 minutes” – provided that you’re taking it in alongside food.

“Your body still needs an adequate amount of carbohydrates, fat and protein to power through an entire workout,” Medrano added. “If you want to add coffee to your pre-fuelling plan, be sure to add it in addition to your normal meal or snack, not in place of it.”

Certified trainer/stuntman/acrobat Brennan Mejia opts for coffee when he wants an extra boost before a workout. Mejia told MensHealth.com the chemical has numerous positive benefits, from raising energy levels to free fatty acid mobilisation – but he drinks the stuff because of what it doesn’t have.

Read more: Here are 11 reasons you should be drinking coffee right now and the products you should be using

The only ingredients you’ll find in a cup of coffee are milk and sugar, if you add them. That’s not the case with many pre-workout supplements, which might not be on the up-and-up. “Coffee may not contain additives like beta-alanine and creatine found in many pre-workout supplements,” Meija noted – but coffee is regulated by the FDA. “You know what ingredients you’re ingesting,” he said.

When should you take your first sip

If you’re going to use coffee for a workout supplement, you can’t just depend on your morning cup to get the job done. Timing is key.

You might feel your buzz starting within seconds of your first sip, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s fully worked its way into your system. Coffee wakes your body up by dispersing caffeine into your bloodstream, which has a half-life (how long it will take for your body to burn through half of the caffeine dosage you ingest) of five to six hours. The stimulating effects of the chemical will hit your body during this period.

But when do the effects peak? At which point is your body going to get the most out of the stimulation the caffeine provides?

The answer? Not too long after you finish that cup, as it turns out. If you’re looking to hit the gym when your caffeine boost is at its most powerful, you’re going to want to down a cup of Joe roughly 45 minutes before working out.

Read more: The key to good teamwork is a big cup of coffee, study finds

Studies show that maximum caffeine concentration hits at about 45 minutes post consumption. From that point forward, your body is burning through the caffeine, lessening its effects. So if you hit the weights right around 45 minutes after downing a cup, you’re going to be experiencing the peak of your caffeine buzz before your body has had time to process the supplement.

The caffeine dosage doesn’t affect this, mind you. Whether you’re drinking a basic cup of Starbucks or going with a highly concentrated brand the saturation will peak roughly at that 45-minute mark.

Just be sure that you don’t exceed 400mg of caffeine in a day, according to the Mayo Clinic’s recommendations. That’s the equivalent of four cups of brewed coffee – so as long as your pre-workout isn’t your fifth hit, you’ll be good to go.

^{This article was originally published on www.menshealth.com}

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Tres Dean

He Jiankui shocked the world by claiming he had created the first genetically edited children.

Inspectors say emergency and maternity services at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust are unsafe.

What do Block Island, Durango, and Ocho Rios have in common? Each is a destination where my usually healthy son came down with strep. After a decade of ruined trips, I begged his doctor to give me a just-in-case batch of antibiotics. And, of course, he never got strep again.

The moral? Be prepared anyway. And our guide will help you do just that by arming you with everything you need to know (what to wear, first-aid essentials, midflight yoga stretches, hotel-sheet checks) to make your travels happy and healthy.

For people with coronary artery disease, the thickness of the Achilles tendon may be an indicator of the severity of their disease and how likely they are to have a heart attack, new research suggests.

The Achilles tendon – the longest and strongest tendon in the body – connects the calf muscles to the heel bone. The study, presented recently at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions meeting in Chicago, looked at the association between severity of coronary artery disease and thickness of the Achilles tendon in 241 people who had received a stent to open a blocked blood vessel in their heart.

Highest risk of heart disease and death

The researchers identified participants with an Achilles tendon thickness of 9mm – about a third of an inch – or more. About 80% of those patients had more than one heart artery that was blocked, placing them at higher risk for a heart attack. Among those with a thinner Achilles tendon, 58% had more than one blocked heart artery.

People with a thick Achilles tendon also were more likely to have left main coronary artery disease, which is associated with the highest risk of heart disease and death.

The study’s lead author, Dr Takuya Hashimoto, a cardiologist at the Kitasato University School of Medicine in Tokyo, said that a diagnosis of Achilles tendon thickness could potentially be used to identify people at risk of heart disease.

But he said this study couldn’t confirm that because it included patients already with coronary artery disease and did not look at patients with Achilles tendon thickening due to other causes.

Another study presented at the conference looked at the best way to diagnose familial hypercholesterolemia, or FH, by measuring Achilles tendon thickness.

Intriguing association

FH is an inherited disorder that causes dangerously high cholesterol levels. Achilles tendon lumps caused by cholesterol deposits, known as xanthomas, are a known indicator of coronary artery disease in people with FH.

X-rays are generally used, but the new study found that ultrasound imaging may be better at detecting the genetic condition among people who needed a heart stent.

Dr Philip Ades, a cardiologist at the University of Vermont College of Medicine who was not involved with either study, said the research addresses an association that has intrigued heart doctors for years.

“As a clinician, if I see a patient with a very thickened Achilles tendon or xanthomas, I’ll tell myself, ‘If they’re depositing cholesterol in their tendons, it’s very likely they’re depositing lipids elsewhere, such as in their coronary arteries,'” he said.

But given that there already are numerous ways to predict which patients are more likely to develop coronary artery disease, Ades said he doesn’t see screening for Achilles tendon thickness as something likely to become routine.

“Sending people to the hospital for a fancy X-ray of their Achilles isn’t warranted when we already have these simple measures to tell us who is more likely to have coronary disease,” he said.

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Take the stairs up to your office. Park a little further away from the grocery store. Walk your dog around the block. Carry out the trash.

Any amount of physical activity – even two minutes’ worth – can add up to huge benefits for your immediate and long-term health, according to the new edition of the US Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans.

A solid contribution

Previously, the guidelines held that unless physical activity lasted 10 minutes or longer, it didn’t count toward a person’s recommended weekly activity goals.

But research has shown any small amount of activity provides a solid contribution to a person’s health, according to the second edition of the guidelines unveiled Monday at the American Heart Association’s annual meeting in Chicago.

“The new guidelines demonstrate that, based on the best science, everyone can dramatically improve their health just by moving – anytime, anywhere and by any means that gets you active,” Admiral Brett Giroir, assistant secretary for health at the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), said in a news release.

Only 26% of men, 19% of women and 20% of teenagers currently get their recommended weekly amount of physical activity, according to HHS.

The first edition of the Physical Activity Guidelines came out a decade ago, in 2008.

The new edition also highlights a broader array of short- and long-term benefits from physical activity, all based on scientific evidence:

• Just a single bout of physical activity can sharpen your mind, reduce your anxiety, lower your blood pressure, improve your sleep, and strengthen your body’s ability to convert blood sugar into energy.
• Regular physical activity can improve your brain health, reduce your risk of eight different forms of cancer, and lower your risk for excess weight gain.
• Chronic health conditions improved by physical activity include osteoarthritis, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, anxiety and depression.

Exercise also helps improve brain function in people with dementia, multiple sclerosis, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and Parkinson’s disease.

“It’s the cheapest prescription in the world, but most people don’t want to fill it,” said Dr Eileen Handberg, a professor of cardiovascular medicine with the University of Florida’s College of Medicine.

No group unaffected

The weekly recommended amount of activity remains the same for adults – at least 150 to 300 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity or 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous-intensity activity, combined with muscle-strengthening activity on at least two days.

Examples of moderate activity include brisk walking, ballroom dancing, water aerobics or pulling weeds, according to the AHA. Vigorous activity can involve running, swimming laps, bicycling fast, aerobic dancing or working a shovel or hoe in the garden.

The guidelines now recommend that children aged two to five be active throughout the day to enhance growth and development – at least three hours a day. Kids aged six through 17 are recommended to have at least 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity.

Pregnant and postpartum women should do at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise a week, while older adults should add balance training on top of their aerobic and muscle strengthening activities, the guidelines say.

“You need to get out and be active, whether you’re a child or an adult, whether you’re a pregnant woman, whether you have chronic disease – there’s no group that isn’t affected by these guidelines,” said Handberg, a member of the American College of Cardiology’s Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease Committee.

Getting more people moving

AHA President Dr Ivor Benjamin said the association will adopt the guidelines as its official recommendations for physical activity.

“We urge other health groups and interested parties across the country to adopt the guidelines and join us in committing to help ensure more people get moving,” Benjamin said in a statement.

The guidelines should form the foundation for policies supporting physical education in school, bike and pedestrian infrastructure in cities, and workplace promotion of exercise, Benjamin and Handberg said.

Physical activity is so important it should constitute a “fifth” vital sign for doctors, Handberg said.

Any activity is better than none

“That ought to be a health care standard,” Handberg said. “If you go to a health care provider, if I don’t give you your BMI and I don’t assess your physical activity, it’s really not in the forefront of your mind, or mine as your provider.”

Doctors hope that exercise will seem less daunting to people if everyone adopts the mindset that any physical activity is helpful.

“Patients should be reassured that they do not need large amounts of time or complex exercise regimens to be healthier,” lead author Dr Paul Thompson wrote in an editorial accompanying the guidelines’ publication online in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

“Any activity is better than none,” continued Thompson, a cardiologist with Hartford Hospital in Connecticut. “It also is possible to perform all activities on one or two days per week, because this yields health benefits similar to those achieved through activity on three or more days per week.”

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