Everyone has experienced muscles soreness. It’s that feeling after exercising for the first time in a while, getting in shape and after a particularly hard workout. This feeling is currently hitting home, as I have recently attempted to go on a run after being inactive for three weeks. Soreness typically leaves our muscles feeling tight and making movement painful. But why do out muscles hurt so much after we exercise? And what is the best way to prevent this discomfort?

Muscle soreness is a result of either excessive exercise, exercise followed by a long period of inactivity, or when one uses new of athletic equipment. The scientific name for muscle soreness is actually called Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness, or DOMS. DOMS is usually felt twelve to forty eight hours after activity, depending how intense the activity was. It usually lasts around a week. The science behind DOMS involves the Glycolytic System that breaks down carbohydrates to produce ATP for the body. ATP is a nucleotide containing chemical energy that is used for metabolism in our bodies. This ATP is usually used for activity that ranges in duration from thirty seconds to three minutes. There are two methods that break down the carbohydrates: fast and slow. The “fast” method is the type that typically makes you sore. This involves Amino Acid Pyruvate converting into lactic acid, which “interferes with the Calcium release from the Sarcoplasmic Reticulum” (bodybuilding). Essentially, this lactic acid that your body uses is unfamiliar, but as one exercises more and more, the lactic acid “builds up” and helps develop new muscles that the body needs so you won’t continue to feel this soreness.

But why do we feel this way for multiple days after initial exercise? DOMS can actually causes “Small microscopic tears occur in the muscle”, according to David O. Draper, director of the graduate program in sports medicine and athletic training at Brigham Young University. These damages and inflammation to one’s muscles also contribute to this painful experience. There is no one on this earth that is unaffected by soreness, and someone should not be turned off by a new physical sport or activity because of this very normal feeling.

So, we get why muscles hurt after exercising, but is there anything one can do to alleviate this pain? Thankfully there are multiple ways to do this. But what is the best way? Stretching is considered of the strongest ways to ease muscle soreness according to WebMD.com. However, research has proved otherwise. In 2002, an experiment was performed by Dr. Rob D Herbert to study the effects that stretching has after physical activity. “Blinding” the participants in the study was not possible, so a random group of three hundred adults in good health were asked to either stretch or to not stretch immediately after physical activity. The stretching that the experimental group experienced lasted 300 to 600 seconds, stretching the main muscle areas in the body and the control group did not stretch at all after physical activity. The study found that the people in the experiment did not feel any less or more soreness than the control group, concluding that “Stretching before and after exercising does not confer protection from muscle soreness”.

However, there are other ways that also do a great job in relieving muscle soreness, and do just as great as a job as stretching does. Massages of tissue that has been damaged and affected can speed up the “recovery time” from being sore. In fact an experiment that was published in the Journal of Athletic Training tested the effects of massages on sore muscles. The control and experiment groups were instructed to do “maximal isokinetic eccentric movements of the elbow flexors”. However, the experimental group was massaged for ten minutes three hours after activity and reduced swelling by 30%. The all-time, most sufficient way of treating DOMS is to exercise more! This keeps your body in aerobic motion, so the lactic acid has more time to build up.

Finding the motivation to exercise is hard enough, and DOMS just makes it even harder! But next time you are struggling to move the next day after a tough workout, but remember your body is getting stronger and blame the pain on lactic acid!

I feel your pain, bud.

Photo credit: http://www.fitstep.com/Misc/Newsletter-archives/issue65/muscle-soreness.htm

It is almost impossible in today’s world to be unaware with the controversy of abortion. Politicians, religious leaders and people and general all seem to have a very clear view on this topic; whether aborting an unborn fetus should be allowed. Supporters say that a woman should do what’s best for her body and the fetus has not been born yet, so one is not killing anything when getting an abortion. Opponents claim that no one has the right to kill a defenseless human and abortion should be illegal. But what exactly is a fetus? And is it human?

A fetus is defined as an “unborn, developing mamal” and occurs around the tenth week of pregnancy. A fetus is developed from an embryo and remains this way until the fetus is born. An embryo is the small height of .75 inches in the beginning stages to around 20 inches at birth. At this point, a fetus has fingers and toes, lungs are formed and the brain is constantly maturing and developing. By the ninth week of gestation, the baby’s “body will begin to store fat, and its respiratory system will develop and mature over the course of the pregnancy”.  This means that the baby starts to take on a more human appearance, with eyelashes, nails, and sometimes even hair. A mother is able to feel the fetus moving around and extending the fetus’ limbs by the 20^th week of pregnancy. This is where the definition of a fetus gets tricky: do these features make it human?

One argument is that since a fetus has not exited the womb, it cannot be classified as a human. Even though this “mass” has a heartbeat and a developing brain, some believe that it cannot be a human until the fetus is physically born. A recent study tried to determine if a fetus has the ability to have behavioral states. They conducted a longitudinal study, “fetal eye movements, visualized by means of real-time ultrasonic imaging, and fetal heart rate patterns, recorded by means of a cardiotocograph” were observed as variable to see if a fetus experienced these states like a newborn human. The researchers discovered that between weeks 38 and 40, where movement is most easily recognizable, the four behavioral states were not found. While the researchers found that the fetus showed “wakefulness”, the “stability of association of parameters for prolonged periods and by the simultaneity of change of parameters at state transitions” was not statistically significant enough to prove that the fetuses had behavioral stages, and therefore is not human.

On the other hand, some believe that a fetus is human. When an egg and sperm cell are first combined, a unique combination of DNA is created, including what hair and eye color this zygote will have. Some argue that this shows that a fetus is and has always been a human because it has always been different and has had predetermined qualities. Supporters of this argument point out that the definition of a human being is “any individual of the genus Homo, especially a member of the species Homo sapiens”. This official definition doesn’t discriminate which stage a zygote, embryo or fetus is in. Even my source from Princeton University states that “During the process of fertilization, the sperm and the oocyte [egg] cease to exist as such, and a new human being is produced.” 

In today’s highly political and intelligent world, it is important to be informed on controversial topics such as this one. Next time, make sure you know your facts before commenting on such a disputed topic.

A fetus…I know kind of gross looking, right?

Photo credit: https://www.google.com/search?q=fetus+models&es_sm=91&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAWoVChMIt9rw__n_xwIVhPM-Ch05RQUT&biw=1274&bih=657#imgrc=eBY2dPSX9RVO4M%3A

Sleep. It seems that everyone is always talking about how much they love it, how much they need it, and how deprived they are of it. Sleeping is essential to our well-being. It is said to be the “single most important factor in predicting longevity, more influential than diet, exercise, or heredity”. So why do we get so little of it? And how many hours should we actually be receiving each night?

Sleep is a much more complex process than simply resting one’s head on a pillow and dozing off. There are five stages: one, two, three, four and REM (rapid eye movement). Getting enough REM sleep is essential. This period is when our eyes twitch (hence rapid eye movement) and our limbs become temporarily paralyzed. When one loses sleep, their time in REM is cut short. Sleep deprivation is such a negative condition because the brain “processes emotions, information, memories, and stress” during this stage and when it is shortened, we loose this essential function.

Enough about the technical nature of sleep, the real question is why don’t we get enough of it? The National Sleep Foundation reports that teenagers require eight to ten hours of sleep each night to function properly, but evidence shows that only 15% actually receive this amount of sleep. Teen’s circadian rhythm is changing and gets pushed back later and later due to distraction such as homework, studying and social media. A study from Harvard found that the color blue tends to keep people awake, and almost all forms of social media have a blue background to them – Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr. No wonder teens spent all night surfing the web and spending time on social media!

Sleep is so vital to us in many ways. According to The Sleep Foundation, lack of sleep has many negatives, including increased irritation, forgetfulness of simple facts, weight gain, and can even cause you to break out in pimples! It fact, one study examined if sleep deprivation can put you more at risk for developing a cardiovascular disease, a soft point. Researchers conducted an observational study for a group of 3,000 randomized people over the age of 45 and asked them about their sleep habits. They found that people that slept less than six hours a
night were “twice as likely to have a stroke or heart attack” based on their health history than those that got their recommended eight hours of sleep. On the other hand, a rare amount of sources I discovered found that sleep has little importance. Since the actual mechanism for sleep in unknown, some argue that we sleep just because we feel tired sometimes, but this theory has little evidence backing it up. However, sleep   deprivation has proved have a hard point. In one study, it was found that a lab rat that was forced to stay up would die after three days. This is startling because a usual life span for a lab rat is about three years. Although we are evidently not rats, this study proves that sleep is definitely important.

Even though is can be extremely difficult to get the recommended eight hours of sleep per nigh- trust me, I personally know- sleep is so important to our health and well being. Plus, a good night sleep just feels so good!

Doesn’t everyone look like this when sleeping? No?

Photo credit: http://www.livescience.com/39669-sleep-beauty-science-look-attractive.html

Starbucks. Dunkin’ Donuts. Tim Horton’s. Krispy Kreme. What do these four insanely popular food stores have in common? Coffee. Caffeine consumption through the medium of coffee has significantly increased in recent years. In fact 54% of Americans in the United States over the age of eighteen drink coffee daily. That’s forty billion dollars spent on this addictive drink annually in America. But what’s really in this dark drink? Is it “good for you”?

The contents of a plain cup of coffee are comprised of four parts besides water. These parts only make up 1% of coffee, but are responsible for the effects and taste that coffee has. The first is caffeine. Caffeine is a naturally found drug called “white crystalline xanthine alkaloid”and has the chemical formula of C₈H₁₀N₄O_2. It can be found in coffee beans, cacao beans and tea leaves. It is classified by the FDA as a stimulant that “stimulates the central nervous system, [one’s] heart rate, and respiration, has psychotropic (mood-altering) properties and acts as a mild diuretic”“, which means that it lowers blood pressure. The second aspect of coffee is chromogenic acid that gives this drink that bitter taste. The third part of coffee is citric acid, which is responsible for coffee’s high acidity and the fourth aspect is phenol, which can actually be used as disinfectants when highly concentrated. There are also four kinds of sweeteners commonly added to coffee: sucrose, sucralose, acesulfame-k, and saccharin.

While these chemical compounds seem to have no blatant harm to humans when drunk in moderation, over-consumption can be detrimental. Four hundred milligrams of coffee is recommended for an adult daily. That’s right, an adult. Caffeine is not suitable for children under the age of eighteen, and while it doesn’t not actually stunt growth is can dehydrate kids, cause cavities and cause difficulty sleeping. Children that consume coffee can expect a decrease in how one’s gut absorbs calcium, so 100 milligrams of coffee a day, maximum, is suggested.

However, coffee can still have some negative effects for adults, too. While effects vary from person to person, drinking more than four cups of coffee per day (1600 milligrams), coffee has been linked to many conditions that are determined by one’s body mass, age, medication use and health. These conditions include insomnia, nervousness, restlessness, stomach upsets, and muscle tremors. Not to mention the sugary drinks that usually contains absorbent amounts of sugar and calories. (mayo clinic). One sixteen-ounce pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks contains 380 calories, fourteen grams of fat, 55 milligrams of cholesterol and fifty grams of sugar. As a comparison, fifty grams of sugar is equal to two serving of Ben and Jerry’s New York Super Fudge Chunk ice cream.

The Mayo Clinic states that studies have also found that the consumption of an excess amount of coffee can increase one’s chances of developing heart disease, but as I researched more, I found that this is not always the case. (mayo clinic)

Most studies prove that there is not a statistically significant relationship between coffee consumption and coronary heart disease. In Sweden, researchers followed 37,315 males that drank four to six cups of coffee daily in an observational study for nine years and found that coffee consumption was not positively correlated with incidences of heart failure. In fact, other research shows that coffee can actually prevent one’s chances of developing Parkinson’s disease, boost cognitive function and decrease rates of depression (the mechanisms are currently unknown). It has actually been found to “prevent liver disease” thanks to the antioxidants found in coffee. Not to mention, straight, black coffee has significantly less calories than other drinks. A 400-milliliter cup contains only two calories, while a can of soda such as Sprite (355 mL) contains a staggering 140 calories.

So next time you’re in the mood for a skinny vanilla whatever, think about what’s really going into your body and take it with a grain of salt – not literally, that would taste disgusting.

photo credit: http://www.livescience.com/39669-sleep-beauty-science-look-attractive.html

Gatorade. A name synonymous with the sports drink that one can easily find on the shelves of almost every grocery stores across America. One can also find it being dumped over the heads of various sports coaches at championship games. The brand is iconic in our world today and culturally significant around the world. It’s branded as “The thirst quencher” and Gatorade’s official website claims that it “adequately replaces the key components lost by players through sweating and exercise. But many wonder, what does it actually do? Does it really work? And is it actually better than drinking water?

The drink came to be in 1964. Gatorade’s official website says that researchers at University of Florida noticed that the football players at the school were suffering from overheating and affecting their athletic performance. They concluded that “the fluids and electrolytes the players lost through sweat were not being replaced, and the large amounts of carbohydrates the player’s bodies used for energy were not being replaced”. Whew what a mouthful. Basically, the researchers crafted a drink for their players that essentially replaced the sweat they would loose during practice. Shortly after, the team found great success and other colleges caught on to the drink craze and the brand “Gatorade” was born.

The history is pretty interesting, but does it actually work? And is it actually better then drinking plain water? Let’s start with what is actually in Gatorade. The standard “Thirst Quencher” contains sugar and electrolytes like sodium and potassium that replaces the nutrients we loose when we sweat through physical activity. Gatorade insists that the electrolytes help regulate the body’s “fluid balance” while carbs provide energy. However, with all of these seemingly helpful nutrients comes a whole lot of sugar. Specifically, there is 21 grams of sugar in a 12oz bottle and 56 grams in a 32oz bottle. That’s about the same amount of sugar that’s in two and a half snickers bar. Gatorade can actually detrimental to your health if one drinks it daily without actually partaking in exercise due to the high sodium content. Even for people that do exercise daily, Gatorade can still be harmful to maybe not one’s health, but one’s wallet. Gatorade’s “Thirst Quencher” costs about $4 for a pack of six bottles, which would last one almost a week. That’s about $16 spent on this drink per month, and $192 per year. Not everyone’s budgets are able to support this kind of excessive spending on drinks.

Studies have tested many of Gatorade’s marketing campaigns and claims to fame. Darren Worrel’s First in Thirst talks about Gatorade’s claim to fame that Gatorade gives a 25-power watt increase while running and exercising than water. However, the brand fails to mention that this wattage difference would only be taken in account if the athlete was partaking in very strenuous activity for at least an hour. Triathlete Alberto Salazar that refutes Gatorade’s claim that it is superior to water. He says that while Gatorade may be more effective for longer periods of exercise, it would take a race of about twelve hours to really matter. On another occasion, Gatorade insisted that athletes perform better in their respective sport when drinking their product. To test this statement, researcher David Criswell at the University of Florida conducted an experiment to test if Gatorade really had a noticeable effect on athletes that consumed the drink. He randomly assigned a local high school football team to either the control group or the experimental group. He gave one group, the experimental group, Gatorade and the other group, the control group, received colored and sweetened water; using the placebo effect to see if athletes noticed a difference. Criswell instructed the athletes to run eight forty-yard sprints while drinking the designated drink in between each repetition. After the experiment, Criswell remarked, “We found no difference in performance at all. Neither team was better than the other”. Clearly, the control group became influenced by the placebo effect, and the study showed that there is not a clear benefit to consuming Gatorade compared to another drink.

While Gatorade does aid in performance and exercise in the long run, it should not be used regularly as a “thirst quencher” as the name suggests. So next time, think before you grab a bottle of the brightly colored drink about what’s really in it.

Photo credit: http://pinnest.net/gatorade-thirst-quencher/

Hi everyone!

I’m Lauren Dattilo and I am from a small town outside of New York City in Northern New Jersey. I am a freshman enrolled in the College of Communications with a major in Public Relations. However, there is a very good chance my major could change another 3 times because I am so indecisive. My academic adviser told me that this science class was loved by all of the students that took it, so how could I say no? (I also needed to take a science class that fulfilled my General Education requirement). I’m so glad I decided to take this class because the topics seem so fun and interesting. Science in high school had always bored me, but by just taking a look at the syllabus, I can’t wait to learn more about more real-life topics such as “Are males toxic?” and “Why can’t you live forever”.

I am not planning on becoming a science major because I have no desire to study things that I cannot see. I can definitely acknowledge how important and vital advances in the fields of science are, but they just don’t personally interest me. I would rather observe the human condition rather than memorize the chemical equation for photosynthesis. With this being said, I can honestly say that I am very excited to discover and learn about the topics that are outlined in this class.

Here’s a picture of Old Main I took on the first day of classes!

Also, here’s a scene from my favorite TV show of all time, Parks and Recreation here.